Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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50. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he is satisfied that Irish food export companies are fully prepared for the changes proposed as part of the post-Brexit process, specifically in relation to products of animal origin, which are due to be introduced on 1 October 2021; the steps taken by him to assist Irish food export companies that will be impacted by changes; if his Department has engaged with Enterprise Ireland on this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43474/21]

Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I congratulate the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Troy, on his marriage to his better half during the summer.

My question is to ascertain whether the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Leo Varadkar, is satisfied that Irish food export companies are fully prepared for the changes proposed as part of the post-Brexit process, specifically in regard to products of animal origin and which are due to be introduced on 1 October 2021. I wish to know the steps taken by the Minister to assist Irish food export companies that will be affected by changes. Has his Department engaged with Enterprise Ireland on this issue? Will he make a statement on the matter? I submitted this question a week ago but I acknowledge that there have been changes in the past couple of days.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. I appreciate that the announcement was only in the past couple of days and came after the Deputy submitted his question.

As Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, I can assure the Deputy that the Government is very much aware of the challenges that Brexit brings for exporters, in particular for businesses in the agrifood sector. We continue to work closely with the agrifood sector to mitigate the impact of the new trading arrangements to operationalise the new EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, TCA. We are also continuing to engage with our EU and UK colleagues on the introduction of further administrative requirements for trade.

Last week, I met UK Cabinet Minister Michael Gove, MP, as part of Enterprise Ireland's trade mission and I discussed the additional measures proposed by the UK. Since then the UK Government has announced an extension to the current grace periods beyond 1 October and, it seems, at least until the end of the year.

The agrifood sector is a major and important contributor to the Irish economy, particularly our rural economy, and any further regulatory requirements will present additional challenges and costs for Irish exporters. We are committed to ensuring that Irish food exporters fully understand any potential new UK import requirements and everyone in the supply chain is as prepared as possible. Being fully prepared is not the same as saying there will not be problems. Of course there will if there are new rules and regulations, forms to fill in and checks. With this in mind, there is ongoing cross-departmental engagement involving my Department and Enterprise Ireland to put in place a range of financial and advisory assistance measures to help our businesses to prepare for this new environment.

My colleague, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, is leading on sector preparedness, and his Department and its UK equivalent, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, DEFRA, are engaging on the range of measures in place and proposed. His Department has also run joint webinars with DEFRA on the UK import controls. In a recent survey undertaken by Bord Bia, over 80% of Irish companies reported that they were ready for the new procedures proposed for imports into Great Britain of products of animal origin. They were planned for October. Therefore, if 80% are saying they are prepared, 20% may not be.

While the UK has announced the extension of grace periods, I remain confident that solutions exist, within the parameters of the protocol, to deal with the issues that have arisen to date. The EU has demonstrated time and again a considered, credible, solution-driven approach to these issues and will continue to encourage the UK Government to be similarly constructive in its approach.

Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I thank the Tánaiste. I am a member of the agriculture committee. In fairness to Deputy Cahill, he has brought this issue up also. It was going to be looked into at one of the meetings. If the arrangement had been implemented, especially on the food side, it is unknown how many vets would have been needed to sign off on products. My understanding from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is that it expected people to have products ready from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Many companies might work for six days per week and would not have storage places. This is where Enterprise Ireland and the Minister's Department need to come in. The companies would not have the storage space to store some of the foodstuffs they are exporting. Whether someone knew something or not, there was no willingness up until the last week to have enough vets on stream. In fairness, an awful lot of vets would be needed. Would the Minister's Department be able to take an interest, work with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and ensure Enterprise Ireland gets involved and teases out the problems? Whether it is tomorrow or in a year's time, the arrangement will come down the road sooner or later.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. In an ideal world, I would like to see a closer relationship between the EU and the UK. I am not sure that is possible for the foreseeable future but anything that would align our standards, such as a veterinary agreement or food standards agreement, would dramatically reduce the number of checks and controls necessary and would be very beneficial to our farmers and exporters.

The issue of vets is obviously a matter for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine but we talk about these things. The Department says it would have had enough people available. The Department would have had to use other staff, contractors and so on, but it says it was prepared for that.

On the issue of storage, I will have to look into the matter and give it some consideration. It has not crossed my desk yet but I can see why storage and stockpiling would be advisable whenever the new checks and controls come into place.

We have 24-hour, in-person support in place at Dublin Port to deal with any issues, ready-for-customs grants to help people scale up their in-house activity, webinars and online guidance.

We will also continue to meet with stakeholders regularly and to listen and engage through the Brexit business forum.

Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I welcome the Minister's response. One thing that Enterprise Ireland or the Minister's Department needs to home in on is the storage part. My understanding from the veterinary side of this is that for eight or nine hours, a vet may be available. However, one may have a small company in this country that does not have the storage, where the lorries are going every three, four or five hours for six days a week - but not on Sundays; it may not have the the facilities and the storage to ensure that when the vet is there the product can be signed off. It is imperative for us now when we have a kind of lead-in to this, hopefully, and as the Minister says, that regularisation will happen between the EU and the UK as to the agreement on food policy or whatever, and that we will then be able to work on this.

It is important because I am hearing that Enterprise Ireland is not greatly involved in this so far and it needs to get stuck in with problems such as this. I ask that the Minister might take note of the storage part of this to help businesses out. I thank the Minister.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy and I hear what he is saying. I will definitely look into the issue of storage. I am unsure as to whether this is an issue for Enterprise Ireland, for the customs service or for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to take the lead on but this is an all-of-government matter and I will make some inquiries.