Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Coming from Inishowen in Donegal I know, no more than anyone else, that our suckler beef is tremendous. Our objective must be to ensure that our high quality beef gets the best price possible and is marketed well abroad. This is important and is something that I have raised with Bord Bia in the past. It is an issue that Bord Bia very much recognises too. It is important to assess the market and where consumers are at, and feed that into how we frame the PGI status application. We must take all the evidence on board, particularly the views of farming representative bodies. We must then ensure that the industry gets behind it and that Government supports it in terms of making sure that it is marketed and promoted. There is more work to be done over the next period of time in advance of the next beef task force meeting. It is my objective to try to get everyone working in partnership to promote Irish beef abroad and to try to get agreement on the PGI status.

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