Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)

I support the Deputy on that. At the end of the day we have to get Irish produce into supermarkets. We have to get it exported everywhere around the world. I attended the agrifood regulator inaugural conference today in the Johnstown Court Hotel in County Meath. It was an excellent event and it certainly showed us that we have to look after the farmers and that the primary producer has to get fair play. I know the Minister met the regulator's officials the other evening and I spoke to Joe Healy about that. They need to get proper teeth but they also need big resources. They need to have the people there to be able to do the research to find out what is going on and be able to bring transparency into the system. That is vital.

The other point is that internationally our trade is under threat because of this new tariff regime that is coming in from the US. It is creating huge uncertainty in markets all over the world. We need to recognise that. We will have to have our front foot forward to deal with that.

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