Tony Mulcahy (Fine Gael)

My question is primarily on food production. I welcome the Minister and I am delighted to take part in this debate. The food production side is always of great concern to me. I am a chef by trade - that is my background. I am a small producer in Shannon. I do not have time to find markets or to access the world market so who gets it to the world stage to showcase it in terms of tasting, sampling and identifying a market?

In a pre-budget submission, the ICMSA identified a trillion dollar market in the US for ready meals. Do we have somebody over there saying the American market wants 100 million pizzas next year and that this what we need to get to the market? Who is doing that work? Have we a co-ordinated research and development facility from a food perspective? Are there marketing people and chefs involved in identifying the markets and perhaps putting ready meals together?

Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh's background is in fishing. We have a fantastic organic food product but we need one group or agency to co-ordinate things from when something is caught at sea or reared on the land, prepared by a chef, put into a package and brought to the market.

If there is a trillion dollar market, such as that identified by the ICMSA, we need to know what people in America are looking for and what product we need to send there. As the Minister rightly pointed out, I have no doubt that the largest employment creator in this country over the next five to ten years could be our food sector if we do things right. That will be done under the Minister's stewardship.

Is there one group getting the product from the small producer, to which Senator O'Keeffe referred, or the major producer, taking it to China, showcasing it and creating a market for the producer who does not have the capital or time to do that? We have the product but we need to get it to the market.