Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Absolutely. It is the backbone of the county. I welcome the Government's document on its priorities with regard to Brexit and the work that has been done in this context in recent months. I am a member of the Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, which has been working very closely with the Minister, Deputy Mary Mitchell O'Connor.

All stakeholders came before the committee. We interviewed them and put together a document that contains cross-party recommendations. It was launched a number of weeks ago and I encourage all Deputies to read it because a lot of work went into it. Deputy Quinlivan is also a member of the committee.

Agriculture is a major industry in my constituency in County Limerick. We have to consider Brexit in a national context. There are 130,000 farms in the country, including 18,000 dairy farms. The value of agrifood and drink exports exceeded €11 billion in 2016. Ireland exported 65,000 live cattle to the North and Great Britain in 2015 and imported over €3 billion worth of food and drink from the UK in 2014. Retail is also a factor, particularly as high-street stores import goods from the UK. Trade goes both ways. It is in the best interests of the UK and Ireland to try to get a deal that will work for Ireland in particular.

Some 9% of total milk processing in the Republic comes from Northern Ireland, representing 26% of Northern Ireland milk supplies. A total of 1,000 cattle and 10,000 pigs are exported from the Republic to the North each week. The potential effect of Brexit on the transport sector, such as border checks, could hamper exports given that there are 32,000 lorry trips per year in the milk sector. Brexit will have knock-on effects on farms that may have cross-Border land.

There are implications for farms that have land on both sides of the Border, BPS greening, research and development schemes, nitrates, cattle movements, farm import costs, the possibility of having different requirements and the potential impacts on CAP. It is linked with our domestic policies, which farmers in County Limerick have raised with me. Against the backdrop of Brexit, they have referred to the areas of natural constraint scheme and the ongoing review. There is a commitment in the programme for Government to increase subsidies by €25 million in 2018, and I have asked that we consider exploring the possibility of a further increase, given the improving economic situation, and to try to retain it at 2008 levels before the crash hit.

We also need to build a coalition within Europe when we are negotiating. We will negotiate as 27 member states, but there will be a greater impact on a number of countries - Ireland, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain and Italy - as a result of the fact that they engage in a considerable amount of trade with the United Kingdom. The Netherlands and France conduct €6.07 billion and €4.85 billion worth of trade, respectively, with the UK. Other countries in Europe will be affected.

We also need to consider growing markets. Our exports to the UK were worth €7.2 billion, an increase of 12%, in 2015. The figure for Northern Europe was €4.17 billion, an increase of 8%. The figure for the Asia-Pacific market was €1.59 billion, an increase of 11%, and the figure for the USA was €2.9 billion, an increase of 27%.

We need to push the Asia-Pacific market, which is enormous. There are 4.5 billion people living in Asia, which is 60% of the world's population. They are not buying Irish products so we need to market such products to them. There is a growing middle class in the region and there has been an increase in wealth. It is a growth market. Unfortunately, many people in Asia probably think Ireland is part of the UK. Some people may think that New Zealand and Australia are the same. I know this from working in the Asian markets when I spent time in the region.

See this speech in context