Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to record the tremendous achievement of our Taoiseach and Ministers in that we were able to trade on 1 January this year. We all feared that Brexit would be Armageddon for industry in this country. While there are snags, some of which we are raising here today, trade has continued in a fairly seamless fashion.

I raise the milk processing industry. During the week, there were media reports that mixed milk, as we might call it, will not have access to EU trade agreements, whether with China, Morocco or other countries, and that market supports will also be denied to mixed milk. This would prove a serious problem for many of our processors, one of which gets 60% of its milk north of the Border. Other Members have highlighted the all-Ireland economy, but milk processing has operated on a 32-county basis for a long time. A significant amount of Northern Ireland milk is processed here in the South. It would create great difficulties if that milk did not have the same access to trade agreements and market supports as milk from the Twenty-six Counties.

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