Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his question and ongoing interest in this area. While the immediate threat of Brexit may have passed, we must continue to prepare for the full reality of our new trading relationship with our nearest neighbour. The promotion of Ireland's high-quality, safe, nutritious and sustainably produced food is a core objective of my Department and the relevant Government agencies, especially Bord Bia. This has been a particular interest of mine since my appointment as Minister of State with responsibility for new market development. Along with developing new markets for Irish produce, we must protect our strong position as a trusted nation in existing markets.

Encouragingly, despite an extremely challenging 2020 and 2021 as a result of Brexit and Covid-19 issues, Irish agrifood export performance has remained very resilient, with exports for 2020 totalling €14.3 billion and exports in 2021 to date, including those to the United Kingdom, continuing to grow.

My Department, in close collaboration with industry, has invested significant resources, both financial and political, in developing new markets for Irish food in a wide range of places, including continental Europe, the United States, China, Japan and the Middle East. The Government's commitment to this strategy is clearly demonstrated by the additional funding that has been provided to Bord Bia in recent annual budgets. This funding has supported Bord Bia's extensive marketing and promotional activities, in addition to individual companies that are establishing and expanding their presence on international markets.

Another component of our strategy to develop and diversify markets is ministerial trade missions. Despite the challenges presented by Covid-19, the Minister and I have led several virtual trade missions and other key customer engagements in 2021. These have focused on Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, China, Singapore and West Africa, in addition to our traditional markets in the European Union and the United States. In 2022, provided the public health situation will allow us to implement our plans, we will have an extensive schedule of in-person trade missions in several key target growth markets for Irish food exports.

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