Ms Sinéad McPhillips:

I do not have an update on the land use review but I can come back to the Deputy on that, if needed. In relation to CETA, the agreement with Canada, the trade aspects of that agreement are already provisionally in force since 2017, allowing Irish and Canadian companies to take advantage of the beneficial terms of the agreement. That has been beneficial in terms of our agrifood exports to Canada. Several member states, including Ireland, have yet to fully ratify the full agreement, which is wider than trade.

The Deputy mentioned the potential loss of food production and while obviously that is a concern, Ireland is fully self-sufficient in food production. We rank as the first or second most food secure country in the world when those studies are done. We export about 90% of what we produce because of our comparative advantage, particularly in grass-based livestock production. On the issue of trade and carbon costs, we export food to 180 countries around the world. I would say that is done in a reasonably low-carbon way in that most of those exports go by sea; there are no air miles, so to speak. The benefits of that trade both for ourselves and others - and trade is always a two-way street between importers and exporters - is significant and keeping that trade going is really important in terms of the economic and social sustainability of rural Ireland.