Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy should know that, but it seems he does not.

In terms of market access issues, the Government has worked tirelessly to open up new markets for Irish produce, the objective being to ensure we are not large commodity producers of food but premium producers targeting premium markets across the world. In the past three years I have led trade missions to China, the United States, Algeria, Japan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, in all of which we are making rapid progress. China, in particular, is a hugely exciting market, especially for dairy and pork products and seafood. In the not too distant future, it will also be an exciting market for beef.

In the past 12 months we have achieved agreements on beef access with Japan, Singapore, Egypt and Iran. We have gained access for sheepmeat to Singapore, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, Canada and Russia. We have secured access to Austria and Serbia for pork. What market access did Deputies opposite secure when their party was in government?

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