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

The effort that goes in to opening any market - take the Chinese market as a case in point - is quite extensive. It involves a lot of political engagement, a lot of technical engagement in my Department and a lot of diplomatic effort. I acknowledge the enormous assistance that we were given in that context by the Chinese ambassador in Dublin. My Department has officials in the embassy in Beijing who are continuously engaged with the Chinese authorities in terms of the effort.

There is an extensive level of engagement with the authorities of any individual country in terms of the requirements of that market. We have to meet the requirements of every individual market we are working to access, whether for beef in Korea, beef in China or beef in America or any other product.

We are confident as an industry that our product meets the highest international standards and we are conscious that we export our reputation with every item of food that we send abroad. Nonetheless, we still must meet their requirements and their technical specifications and that is the reason for a lot of engagement with various agencies, such as AQSIQ and CNCA, which are the two agencies in China. There has been some change in respect of those agencies in recent times but it is an extensive ongoing engagement that fortunately has borne fruit now. Hopefully, the industry will follow shortly in terms of export details. There are some minor detail on our side to be resolved but I expect product to move in the second half of this year.

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