Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for that reply. There are many varying and competing concerns for the agriculture sector in the event of a no-deal Brexit or a less than perfect Brexit deal. The biggest of those will be access to the British market.

I will ask the Minister about the exploration of other markets and, particularly, the importance of the land bridge and what will be put in place. There is a huge difficulty with regard to direct shipping and air transport to the rest of the EU. Air freight has increased dramatically in price recently and shipping capacity is also an issue. There are only approximately eight roll-on, roll-off sailings per week. Roll-on, roll-off is the preferred method of shipping transport for most businesses, including agri-food businesses. I would be interested in the Minister's outlining how he will support getting Irish food into the wider EU market post-Brexit.

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