Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The exposure of the dairy industry to cheddar cheese exports to the United Kingdom is a particular concern in the context of Brexit. As the Deputy mentioned, it will be difficult to find a home for all of the 80,000 tonnes on international markets. I took part in a recent trade mission to Korea and Japan where those involved in the dairy industry saw some prospect of increasing the volume of cheddar exports. If, in the context of a hard Brexit, it was no longer financial viable to export to Britain, we would be faced with a significant challenge. Therefore, in the recent budget we committed to the provision of funding for Teagasc for the development of a food innovation hub at Moorepark. The rationale is that the food industry could leverage the expertise of Teagasc and research at UCC to research new product formulations for dairy products and also to see how it might test and bring to a conclusion research with a view to the substitution of cheddar. That is part of the strategy.

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