Mr. John Hughes:

This is an area we are watching as closely as we can. As the Deputy knows, it technically relates to other jurisdictions but it is creating increased competition. In a recent meeting An Tánaiste had with the Irish Farmers Association, IFA, there was dialogue on preparing for the increased competition in the UK marketplace and how we can assist in working with the sector, principally through the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, to prepare for that situation. The competition will not arise from day one because most concessions in free trade agreements in the agriculture sector tend to be in the form of quotas introduced over a number of years. There is a lead-in time to get ready for that.

However, work in which the likes of Enterprise Ireland and Bord Bia are engaged as to where we position ourselves on the market in terms of green production and moving up the value chain is part of the preparatory work we are doing, anticipating the challenges that the UK's free trade agreements with third countries will present for us. That is some of the preparatory work ongoing with the agencies and cross-departmentally to raise awareness in the first place and then to try to respond to that competition. It is coming, it is a reality and we have to prepare for it because, clearly, we have no influence on what concessions are agreed between the UK and third countries. What we need is information and knowledge, and we need to work between the agencies and the stakeholders to prepare for that competition.