Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate both the Minister, Deputy Creed, and the Minister of State, Deputy Doyle, who are both excellent and well deserved appointments. Both Ministers have served long apprenticeships and I have worked with them on the agriculture committees in recent years. As Labour Party spokesperson on rural affairs and agriculture, I look forward to working constructively with them.

Is it not clear that the impact of Brexit will be significant? As the Minister said, the ESRI report referred to a reduction in trade of 20%. Greenland is the only country to leave the Union under an Article 50 procedure and it took more than three years. I have no doubt discussions following Brexit would take us into 2020. The negotiations would take longer than two years so we would have such a period of negotiation. Is it not the case that following Brexit, if the UK were outside the EU, tariffs could be imposed on Irish imports which would lead Irish food producers to seek out other markets for exports? That would likely result in reduced prices, which in turn would lead to downward pressure on prices paid to farmers for beef. That would be very significant. A total of 50% of beef exports currently go to Britain, worth €1.1 billion. Dairy exports, which are almost one third of our exports are worth almost €1 billion.

Moreover, as Deputy O'Keeffe will be aware, 60%, or €330 million worth, of Ireland's pig production goes to the United Kingdom, so that would have a huge impact. Is it not the position that there is no current provision for negotiating a special deal between Ireland and the United Kingdom in the event of a Brexit? Would this be important? As the Minister noted, the potential for the United Kingdom to negotiate external trade agreements with third countries would be a huge risk for Ireland. Would this not lead to displacement of Irish products on the UK market and have a significant negative impact on the Irish food industry?

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