Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Brennan for his presentation. What interaction has Bord Bia had with its British partners which play a similar role? Has it looked at how many transactions somebody who is exporting a single product might have to make after Brexit? In the event that there is a hard Brexit, at what tariffs could we be looking in the absence of an agreement on the customs union? Will the delegates give us a breakdown of how much of the funding for the marketing assistance and step change programmes has been spent this year? Would it be possible for them to provide a regional breakdown in that regard? Can moneys from the Brexit funding be made available to new businesses that might be in the process of setting up? I have a few more questions, but Mr. Brennan might answer the ones I have just asked in the first instance.

I will explain at what I am trying to get when I speak about the possibility of a hard Brexit and the people with whom Bord Bia is working in Britain. Business interests in the North have come together with farming organisations such as the Ulster Farmers Union to try to persuade people to accept the agreement currently on the table. Does Bord Bia have any role in doing something similar here? Is the organisation being used as leverage to ensure we will not have a hard Brexit?