Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday's publication of a comprehensive document to achieve the potential of rural Ireland, covering 600 towns and villages throughout the country, speaks for itself. The question is how that plan will be impacted when the shape of the new relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union is eventually decided. All of the analysis carried out in economic studies by bodies and individuals, ranging from the ESRI, to IBEC, Teagasc and Professor Alan Matthews, indicates an adverse impact on the agri-economy in Ireland. The Deputy referred specifically to the mushroom industry and commodity pricing, the latter being of great concern to the Minister, Deputy Creed. In the short term, the immediate concerns for agrifood exporters centre on exchange rates and the significant drop in the value of sterling against the euro, which have created particular difficulties for sectors such as the mushroom sector that are relatively more exposed to the UK market. The Minister has made €150 million available in the form of low interest, long-term credit. Specific measures were included in the 2017 budget for implementation in 2018. In addition, Bord Bia has activated a four pillar strategy to deal with many of these issues.

There is a particular dependence on the UK market for sectors like horticulture and forestry and in respect of the sizeable quantity of product, such as butter, cheese and seafood, that is sent to the UK for further processing or packaging and returned for finishing, the ingredients that are sourced in the UK for incorporation into Irish products, the products transiting through the UK en routeto European Union markets, the transnational producer organisations, the transport of horses for racing and sale, and the very significant Northern Ireland dimension.

These areas are all the focus of a forum set up by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine dealing with beef, pork, dairy and all these other sectors where there is a constant engagement. This is of exceptional interest to us here in Ireland given that we have a trade surplus in the agrisector of €1.3 billion with the United Kingdom.

The British Prime Minister, Mrs. May, having clarified some of the issues here, such as removing Britain from the Single Market, the question of the customs union and trading relationships is one that we will have to negotiate hard about and imaginatively in respect of our objectives. In that regard, from speaking to the Irish Farmers Association the other night, it recognises price commodity is an issue, as are many of the issues I have raised here. These are ones that we will focus on, through the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and its agencies, as these negotiations begin to commence.

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