Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have been a Minister in that Department and the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Doyle, who is here has been in that Department for quite some time also. This is something that the Government looked at before in terms of how Ministries are linked to make sure that briefs complement each other and so on. The food industry in Ireland is a very important part of our economy and both fisheries and the marine, as well as agriculture and food are linked with that. What the Deputy is proposing would not add to representation for either of those sectors. Linking the two of them continues to make sense.

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