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

As I outlined earlier, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is the lead Department in trade policy but it takes a very clear direction and has very close contact with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine on such matters. This is an area in which we obviously have a clear insight in respect of the sensitivities that would have an impact on Irish farm families.

Tariffs on EU exports to New Zealand will go down to zero from day one of application of the agreement, which is important to bear in mind, including for key EU export products such as pig meat, pet food, ice cream and dairy products, including cheeses.

The pig meat sector has gone through a difficult time and the Government has stepped in to support it. There are benefits for those areas. The Deputy asked for the analysis that will be done on this. That is ongoing in terms of our next steps as to analysis of the agreement, the details of which were only published last week.

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