Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 27 September 2023
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Development of the Sheep Sector: Discussion (Resumed)
Mr. Eddie Punch:
That is correct. The comparison is with the time of Brexit. Those are completely different worlds. The cost of doing business is in a different ballpark completely. We must consider other sectors. Dairy has had a hard year. No one is arguing otherwise. However, the sector had a good year last year. It is on a considerably higher plane than it was in 2016. I am not going to say the beef sector is doing well but it has seen significant increases in price in the past two years albeit those prices have since come down again. The sheep sector has struggled with price in the marketplace. It is struggling with competition from New Zealand and Australia. There are other factors out there. Obviously the Chinese market has been impacted severely by the recession in China. That has led the New Zealanders and Australians to look at other markets. All of that is linked back to the way in which business was done post Brexit, the way the original 228,000 World Trade Organization, WTO, quota was carved up and the fact that the UK prioritised a deal with New Zealand for even more sheep meat. The argument is makeable if enough effort is put into it.
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