Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

In respect of the last question, the answer is "No". In terms of jobs opportunities Irish people work a great deal throughout Europe. There are many Irish people working in the United Kingdom, Germany, France and all European countries. On this day last week, I was in Paris for a long day at a session involving Irish engineering companies. I refer to one particular company involved in project management which is doing a project with Sanofi Aventis. It is the main design team and there are 50 people employed in Ireland on that project, based in Cork and a further 20 employees on site. Enterprise Ireland works with Irish companies to penetrate markets. It is clear to me that we must pay more attention to Europe which has very strong markets for us. France is the largest market for Irish seafood. Beef has recovered significantly and Europe is now our main market. It is a premium product and commands a high price. Many of the markets we have since broken into and to which we have made representations are not really in a position to buy Irish beef given the price at the moment.

Bord Bia has been working very hard in the European market. The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food led a significant trade mission in Italy during St. Patrick's week. This was directed and organised by the board. There is a very strong focus on the European market because it is a good market. I do not have a specific figure for the German market but I can get the details for the Deputy and send them on. This is the reason we were keen at the European Council to ensure there was a strong reference in the conclusions to agriculture and in particular to food because innovation applies to food as it does to any other sector of the economy in terms of the sustainability of an innovative food industry for the future. We succeeded in securing the reference along with the French and other interested parties. Although I do not wish to overlap with another bureaucracy, as part of a post-Farmleigh initiative I am working on the idea of an overseas graduate programme.

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