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

It is important to state geography should always be a determinant of where we trade. It is our hope and ambition that the United Kingdom will always remain an important market for us. In that regard, we are putting much effort into working with our retail partners in the United Kingdom. It is the market we understand most, the one we can access most efficiently financially and the best paying beef market in the world. We are not walking away from it. However, in the context of Brexit and given that we do not know what the future trading relationship will be, it is incumbent on us to have other market opportunities. Where the industry chooses to sell thereafter is an issue for it to decide. It is not for me to tell the industry where it should sell. Any good industry will sell where the margin is highest and to the market that offers the best opportunity to deliver a price to the primary consumer.

China is an enormous market that has become our second biggest market in the context of dairy and pig meat. I do not know whether it will become the same for beef and I think it is idle to speculate. It is an enormous market on which we will put significant emphasis. Opening up that market and other markets is where it is at in terms of the obligations and responsibility of the Department. Where industry chooses to sell thereafter is an issue for it so I am not going to say we sell "X" amount of tonnes to China. It is open. It could be very important given it has an emerging middle class with higher disposal incomes and westernised dietary habits. They are all important. Where industry chooses to sell is not something we control. I am satisfied that there are adequate resources in my Department and Bord Bia.

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