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

I do not agree with the Deputy but I do not expect the Deputy to agree with me either. Our responses have been comprehensive and I never presented the Brexit loan scheme as the panacea for all Brexit challenges; far from it. The Deputy may have elevated it to that status himself. It is the third of three financial products that we have developed for the agrifood, farming and fisheries sectors. It is an important part of the jigsaw that is necessary to support the industry in all its manifestations. There are things the Government can do and has done in terms of market access, live exports and the other things I mentioned earlier such as the ANC scheme and beef producer organisations. We also have made the case at an European Union level. The response initially in terms of Brexit was to make sure that should the UK crash out, there would be supports available from the European Commission and should the UK crash out, the Commission has stated that those supports will be available. Those supports are different from the supports we are looking for now in the context of current market difficulties.

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