Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Once again we are dealing with Brexit - the gift that does not stop giving. None of that has unfortunately been particularly positive for Britain or Ireland, and we know all of the machinations with the political conditions in the North at this point. There has been absolutely nothing positive. We have seen a huge amount of work done on the Windsor Framework and we have welcomed anything that mitigates the difficulties that have been first and foremost caused by Brexit. We all accept that.

However, what are we talking about? From January 31 there will be pre-notification requirements for live animals, animal products and high- and medium-risk category plant products, full customs controls, and health certification on medium-risk animal products, plants, plant products and high-risk food and feed of non-animal origin. It has been said that a considerable number of big operators, in particular, will already have a considerable amount of capacity to deal with these particular issues. This will put particular constraints and impositions on some of the smaller operators. I think we will need to ensure that we provide whatever supports can be provided. Deputy Kerrane made a point about making sure we will have the administrative and veterinary requirements, in particular relating to health certificates. We need to ensure the State does not fall down in this regard, even while accepting that all of this has been created by the disaster that was Brexit. It continues to be a disaster. It is fair to say that the British economy has not exactly made great strides since the UK left the EU. In fairness, they had a right to do that. My particular issue with Brexit is the impact it is having on these particular trading issues. There is also the fact that the North voted to stay within the European Union, but unfortunately due to partition we have the situation we have. With regard to the Executive, some of those particular issues will hopefully get sorted and the DUP will find a way to return to the normality of politics that people want to see. With an Executive up and running, supports can be provided for those people, which the British Government is not providing. Obviously - there is no "probably" about it - it is a means of leverage the British Government has introduced on the DUP. However, it is unfortunately impacting on regular people in the North. That is probably nothing surprising for a British Government. That is where we are.

Whether we are talking about aquaculture or agriculture, we know the significance. Britain accounts for 47% of our beef exports, which are valued at approximately €1.3 billion. Dairy exports to Britain were valued at €1.1 billion last year. We need to ensure we are not detrimentally impacted by this. This has obviously been imposed on us but we have to make sure we have all of our capacity and requirements in place, and that goes without saying. Deputy Mac Lochlainn made a point about the difficulties that have been faced and the many bad deals those who work in the fishing industry have had to deal with for a long time. Once again, these impositions will badly impact on them. We need to have a greater level of Government intervention in dealing with them.

I am sorry that the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, is not here because I wanted to bring up the issue of supports for Cooley farmers following the recent floods. I have no doubt the Minister of State will relay that. It is something we need to see movement on, and probably a bespoke arrangement. Something must be put in place for similar circumstances that may arise in the future. I apologise, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, as I may have overrun my time.

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