Ms Caroline Bocquel:

Certainly. I am quite happy to do that.

I thank the Cathaoirleach and members for the opportunity to present The Business of Seafood 2024 and to reflect on the year just past for Ireland's seafood sector. In 2024, Ireland's seafood economy generated €1.24 billion in GDP, which was a 4% increase on the previous year. The sector sustained more than 16,800 direct and indirect jobs across fishing, aquaculture processing and ancillary services. This highlights the critical role that seafood plays in sustaining livelihoods and communities all along our coastline.

However, the sector continues to operate under significant pressure from inflation, fuel costs, labour shortages and quota constraint, as well as mounting spatial competition at sea. The fishing industry remains heavily reliant on two species, namely, mackerel and nephrops or Dublin Bay prawns. In 2024, these accounted for almost half the total value of landings by Irish vessels. Our aquaculture sector delivered strong growth in 2024 with a 25% increase in value, which was driven by a 51% rebound in salmon production. This is a very welcome development and reflects well on the capacity of producers to recover after a difficult 2023. However, it highlights how dependent overall aquaculture performance is on salmon as a species.

Our processing sector is undergoing significant transformation. Although the most recent data, which is from 2023 rather than 2024, shows a modest 3% decline in value, this masks an unprecedented wave of capital reinvestment backed by more than €37 million in Brexit adjustment reserve, BAR, funding and further national investment through the seafood development programme in 2024.

Our retail sales of seafood increased by 3% in 2024, reaching €333 million, with 93% of households throughout the country purchasing seafood. However, the long-term trend shows a slight softening in this customer uptake, with growing demand for convenience, value and quality assurance.

Looking ahead, there are significant pressures on the sector but there are also opportunities, including growing global demand for high-quality seafood, the momentum around innovation and strong foundations in processing and export. Our role in BIM is to help the sector build resilience and competitiveness. We are the State agency responsible for developing the Irish seafood industry.

Our aim is to ensure the sector is equipped to lead through innovations, sustainability and value creation in order that Ireland is recognised internationally for producing healthy, safe and responsibly sourced seafood.