Noel Rock (Dublin North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for affording me a little bit of time to speak on this Bill. First, I welcome the various brewers who are here in the Gallery today, some of whom I got to meet thanks to a talk Deputy Kelly organised to inform Members of the House on this important Bill. I will open by paying tribute to one of the first pioneers of craft brewing in Ireland, a gentleman called Oliver Hughes, who unfortunately passed away a few months ago. He was the founder of the Porterhouse chain. Members might have seen its pubs based throughout Dublin or indeed its beer stocked in a number of outlets and supermarkets throughout the country. Oliver sadly passed away but I know he would have been proud of this Bill and of the progress that the industry is making in Ireland.

The industry is making great strides and while it currently has 2% of market share, it is growing exponentially year on year and one can see that the ceiling is quite a bit away. If one looks at the USA by way of example, the craft beer industry controls approximately 13% of the market by volume but approximately 20% of the market by value. This really illustrates the high-value product these producers are putting together. On employment, the statistic to which I believe Deputy Kelly made reference earlier that craft brewers in Ireland combined now employ more individuals than the two biggest breweries goes to show how much labour goes into this product.

On entering the Chamber, I noted that on the Fianna Fáil bench opposite is Deputy O'Keeffe from Cork, who can be clearly associated with the constituency from which Eight Degrees Brewing comes, as can the Minister of State sitting in front of me. Similarly, Deputy Donnelly can be associated with the constituency from which Wicklow Wolf comes and Deputy Lawless can be associated with the constituency from which Trouble Brewing comes. It goes to show that, much like Deputies, craft beers are very much geographically associated. One can very clearly see how the idea of craft beer tourism or something akin to the whiskey trail could take off in Ireland. I think the Bill is prescient in that sense, in that it can spark the idea of a real tourism industry in Ireland in a way that we have not necessarily seen before. I think that is important.

Even though I have referenced Trouble Brewing in this speech already, I think there is anything but trouble brewing in the Chamber today. We can quite clearly see that all parties are effectively singing off the same hymn sheet. Tribute should be paid to both Deputy Kelly for having the prescience to put together this Bill - it is a very good Bill which I wish I had thought of myself - but also to the former uachtarán of Fianna Fáil, Brian Cowen, who had the prescience to put together the tax package that allowed the craft beer industry in Ireland to grow. The previous Government enhanced those incentives year on year, effectively expanding the hectolitre capacity under which craft brewers could operate with a slight tax exemption. That was important.

Scale is important for this industry. There are a lot of brewers right around the country who are trying to operate, grow and get to a point where they can create their product and, more importantly, export their product. We want to support that where at all possible. Ireland has a great reputation as a fantastic food and drink exporter. I think in the years ahead we are going to that reputation enhanced to include being a fantastic craft beer exporter as well. I fully support anybody who has the get-up-and-go to establish a brewery and to try their best to export their product.

In terms of tourism and helping the scale of the craft brewing industry, this is a great thing. In terms of helping employment, and rural employment in particular, this is a fantastic thing. The spread of breweries around the country is exemplary. As was referenced earlier, there are only three counties without craft breweries right now. I could practically guarantee that were Members to have this discussion in a year's time, those three counties would be filled in as well.

Ultimately, this is positive and I fully support it. I look forward to seeing it implemented as soon as possible and I pay tribute once again to Deputy Kelly and to those people who are doing this work and making it happen day in and day out.

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