Niall Ó Brolcháin (Green Party)

The strategy addresses the €3 billion increase in added value. Branding in the food sector is very important. I would not share Senator Quinn's food on GM foods. We have a unique selling point in Ireland in being a green, clean, food producing island. There is a major marketing factor in having grass-based, organic agricultural production which gives us something unique to sell. We should not undersell this, given that the market for it is increasing enormously. It is a high value, high quality market and we should not lightly give up our GM-free status. We need to be careful because it is a great selling point.

The resilience of Irish food products is important and other speakers spoke about food security. I believe it takes approximately ten calories of oil to produce one calorie of food. Oil is used at almost every level of the agriculture sector, including transportation and fertilisers, which cannot be sustained. Senator Quinn spoke about modern food production methods, but there are many modern food production methods and many innovations. It will be very difficult to continue to import oil-based fertilisers and other oil-based materials because of the peak oil problems we can clearly foresee ahead of us.

Given the report's overall vision, we will have a considerably larger food export sector, with more jobs, by 2020, which is achievable. In this regard, I would like to see greater development of the artisan food sector. The slow food movement, as employed in Ireland and Italy, is excellent. There is much to be said for products such as Clonakilty black pudding, but in Italy the number of high quality artisan food brands is extraordinary compared to the level here. There is a huge possibility of increasing this in Ireland, as we have many positive brands such as Cashel Blue and Dubliner cheese and the well known Kerrygold butter and Baileys Irish cream. This country has some great brands, but there is also huge potential for artisan brands.

Many Members have referred to forestry. Our strategy to increase the figure from 11% to 17% by 2030 is good. The great thing about forestry is that it provides sustainable employment in all parts of the country. It is a very good strategy, although we are not making the progress required. It is something that should be cranked up.

We must examine fisheries carefully from a conservation point of view, as well as from many others. When we signed the Common Fisheries Policy, we gave away a huge amount of our fisheries. Hundreds of billions of euro worth of fish has been taken from Irish waters but not by Irish fishermen. We must deal with conservation and if schemes such as the rural environment protection scheme and many of the European support grants in agriculture are being reduced, we should see if we could get some increase in the fisheries sector. The reality is that if one plays one off against the other, it should go both ways. We must look at all angles to improve the income and quality of the country in terms of its image abroad with regard to this sector. Smart green growth is required

I welcome the strategy outlined in Food Harvest 2020. Let us move forward with it.