Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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13. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the work of his Department to mitigate the impact of Brexit on the food and drink industry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60844/21]

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I am not sure whether this question could have been taken before the last one because the two are very much interconnected. It is a bit more general than the last one. What efforts will continue to be made by the Department to mitigate the impact of Brexit in our food and drink sector?

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy again. Brexit has presented a range of challenges for the agrifood and fisheries sectors. The trade and co-operation agreement reached between the European Union and the United Kingdom at the end of 2020 did, however, provide some welcome certainty around the future EU–UK trading relationship, including in respect of tariff-free trade. The fact that the UK is no longer in the EU Single Market or customs union still creates significant extra challenges for Irish food companies trading with the UK.

Both within my Department and across Government, we have prepared intensively, in collaboration with the agrifood industry, for these changes. In particular, we have invested significantly in assisting the industry to meet the new import and export requirements that do now, or will in the near future, apply to agrifood trade with the UK.

This investment has included recruitment of additional staff, provision of new port infrastructure, development of new and enhanced IT systems, provision of detailed training programmes for food businesses and provision of financial supports to help businesses to adapt to the new arrangements.

Most recently, on 15 October, along with Government colleagues, I launched the Brexit impact loan scheme, which makes up to €330 million in lending available to eligible businesses in Ireland. This followed the launch earlier this year of a €14 million capital investment scheme to support the food processing industry and comes on top of regular increases in funding to Bord Bia over recent budgets aimed at helping the industry to pursue market diversification opportunities.

I acknowledge the Irish agrifood sector's resilience despite the challenges associated with Brexit. I assure the Deputy that the Government remains fully focused on supporting the industry as it seeks to grow into the future.

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I ask the Minister of State to tease out a little more the exhaustive preparatory work and engagement the Department and agencies have carried out with the sector, particularly on the looming checks that will come in on 1 January and the changed checks for those exporting to the GB market.

The funding announced is very important and is playing a huge role but, in light of the approval by the European Commission and the authorisation of the Brexit adjustment reserve, amounting to close to €1 billion, and the amount of money that will be drawn down by the Irish Government next year, could the Minister of State elaborate on where that targeted spending will be used in the agrifood sector?

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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There have been a number of changes, many of which are in the hands of the UK. The UK has been changing the goalposts by pushing them out. It has postponed the next stage of the import control regime on two occasions, including on 14 September. The most significant element of the most recent UK announcements was that the requirement for pre-notification of agrifood imports will be introduced on 1 January 2022 as opposed to 1 October 2021. The new requirements for export health certificates, which were due to be introduced on 1 October 2021, will now be introduced on 1 July 2022. Phytosanitary certificates and physical checks on sanitary and phytosanitary, SPS, goods at border control posts due to be introduced on 1 January 2022 and 1 March 2022 will now be introduced on 1 July 2022 instead. The requirement for safety and security declarations on imports will be introduced on 1 July 2022 as opposed to 1 January 2022. I reassure the Deputy that our Department, despite that, continues to drive on with the original dates that were in place to have our staff in place and to make sure that the required officials and veterinary staff who are needed are there to process documentation and to support Irish business.

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I appreciate that there was quite a lot in that minute. If the Minister of State could follow up with some extra information, it would be really useful. He might in his supplementary reply refer to the Brexit adjustment reserve fund and its potential targeting in the agrifood sector.

The last point I wish to make, which is tied to both the previous question and this question, is that a lot of these problems that are emerging are not of our creation and there is nothing we can do about them. As the Minister of State said, they are in the hands of the British Government. When it comes to exports, a lot of goods will still go to GB, but looking at the diversification of export routes is vital. As Deputy Carthy said, it is a matter of maximising the continental market, but that requires the encouragement and engagement of the Department. I ask the Minister of State to elaborate on how this is being done to encourage exporters, producers and everyone else to use direct shipping models, straight to the Continent, straight to our biggest market, to go around the potential and existing issues with the GB land bridge.

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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We could do with half an hour for this debate because there is so much to cover in it. To respond first to the Deputy's last point, we have seen exponential growth in sailings and movement of Irish goods directly to mainland Europe, specifically France, because of the challenges with the land bridge, but the land bridge is still important. That is an example of everything we are doing in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, which aims to recognise that the UK is still a very important market for us. Its presence is hugely important to us and provides that competition, but we also need to diversify, to become more flexible and to work on other markets because there is now a medium-term threat from Brexit as the UK opens up more trade deals. That is where the focus needs to be from a trade perspective. That is why we have continued to invest even more money in Bord Bia, with a €4 million increase in its budget for last year and a further slight increase for this year.

Work is ongoing on the Brexit adjustment reserve and our asks from that. The Minister, Deputy McConalogue, the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, and I will continue to keep a close focus on that to make sure it is targeted. There is also the Brexit loan adjustment scheme, on which I will maybe go into more detail later.