Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As the chaos continues in Britain regarding Brexit with still no idea of how it will finish up, be it with a hard border, a soft border or, preferably from my point of view, no border at all, it is only right and proper that we are again discussing agrifood market concerns and priorities post Brexit. As I have said time and again, the number one priority should be and needs to be that, post Brexit, there would be no physical border on the island of Ireland. The agrifood sector is the sector that will suffer the greatest damage in the event of a crash-out Brexit.

Regardless of what type of Brexit occurs, this sector, which is vitally important to my Border constituency will be impacted. Within my Cavan-Monaghan constituency, we have producers of high quality beef, poultry, pigs, milk and mushrooms and long-established, highly respected processing plants. This entire sector must be protected, both pre and post-Brexit. This involves securing the livelihoods of the farming community, ensuring a continuing top quality level of produce and keeping all existing markets open while identifying new markets.

This must involve support from Europe. We never asked for this Brexit mess to be foisted upon us. We have had our own homegrown difficulties arising from the banking crisis. We believe that real and tangible support to help build a bulwark against the worst effects of Brexit must now be forthcoming from the European Union. Similarly our Government, in preparation for the hit that our economy is going to take regardless of what type of Brexit presents, must sponsor an injection of investment to help steady the ship in the short to medium term until these sectors level out and can identify new opportunities for growth.

A strong CAP budget post Brexit is also vital to protect the agricultural sector across Europe over the period ahead. This is a must and the Irish Government must make strong representations on this and must approach it on an island-of-Ireland basis if at all possible. The nature of the sector North-South shows deeply developed integration with the inter-trading of live and processed produce and unprocessed produce for finishing. This happens currently in a co-operative manner with few barriers, yet in a stringent and well regulated market.

The British market is, of course, hugely important to our Irish agrifood sector. While we want to see that retained in the event of a hard, crash-out Brexit, we will be forced to look to new pastures. In the event of punitive tariffs and trade duties, we must get serious support from Europe to get our agrifood produce into new markets as soon as possible and at sustainable, rewarding prices. With pressures already showing on the horizon regarding climate change and sustainability of the agri sector, the last thing we need is tonnes of food rotting in processing facilities and warehouses or held up in delays at customs posts and ports on this island, in Britain, or on mainland Europe.

We must do all we can to maintain our food standards. There can be no acceptance of low quality processed food being allowed into Ireland post Brexit through either the front or the back door. We have the best standards of quality food production in Europe, if not the world, so let us do all we can to preserve those standards and to help ensure not only the sustainability of the agrifood sector across this land but its development and that it will thrive in the years before us.

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