Dara Murphy (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

With respect to developing markets, the Deputy will be aware that, in December last, senior officials at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine met their counterparts in Moscow to discuss the temporary restrictions not covered by the presidential ban.

As I stated, there has been some success. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine, Deputy Coveney, led a trade mission to China, which is a crucially important growth market for Irish food and drink. There was also the opening up in the Philippines of new markets for Irish beef, pigmeat - as Deputy Smith mentioned the pigmeat sector is of strategic importance - and sheepmeat. We acknowledge, as Deputy Smith mentioned in his question, that given the sanctions, the issue of displacement is having an additional consequence.

However, we must remember the reason for the sanctions and the great difficulty the people of Ukraine are suffering. The continuation of work on the ground and at diplomatic and EU level to secure an improvement in the situation is required.

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