Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I thank both the IFA and the INHFA for their submissions. Farming organisations have been acutely aware of Brexit. Agriculture is probably the first sector to have been across Brexit, long before the referendum took place. Farmers were the first to recognise the challenges that Brexit could present to Ireland. As we speak, we could be hours - never mind days, weeks or months - away from a no-deal Brexit.

The challenges regarding agri-food products are threefold. The first concerns the all-Ireland dimension to our food production. There is a need to ensure it is as seamless as possible. The island is too small to have farmers competing against one another on an international stage, which is essentially what we are dealing with. The second issue is the British market, the most important market for Irish food produced in the North and the South. Access to the British market is crucial. Not alone must we consider Irish food producers' access to that market but we must also consider who else will have access in a post-Brexit scenario. The market could be flooded with cheaper imitations of Irish products. The third dimension, which is crucial, concerns the fact that Britain is a land bridge to another important market, namely, the rest of the EU. How do the witnesses believe we fare regarding the three potential threats, which have been known about since the very outset?

I have specific questions on the witnesses' written submissions but I will wait until others contribute and then we will see whether I have a little time in which to go into detail on them.