Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----that I absolutely agree with Deputy Adams about and that is the success of our agrifood industry. Why is our agrifood industry successful? It is not because we produce for own market but because we export. It is trade, and free trade, that makes agrifood successful in Ireland. It is the fact that we trade so much with the United Kingdom, the rest of Europe and increasingly, with China. On balance, trade is good for Irish agriculture. If we did not have free trade, we would only produce for our own market and huge numbers of farms would go out of business and become non-viable. That is why our starting position should be an openness to free trade because free trade and exports are what has made Irish agrifood so successful. That is why we should not come from a starting position of fear and protectionism; we should be open to free trade agreements.

This is an agreement that does not even exist yet. It is something that is under negotiation. The approach that Sinn Féin seems to be advocating, which is so often its approach, is to be against it before it even knows what it is. That is not a grown-up approach to government.

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