Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Modesty prevented that but I am glad the Acting Chairman stitched it into the record of the House. It was my great privilege and honour to succeed the Minister of State in that role and I try to emulate the good work he did. He gained a huge reputation in Europe from that role.

We had a debate earlier today on Brexit and on how the sterling factor could jeopardise a number of our businesses and traders. We talked about the need for a Brexit-proofed budget and a strategy to deal with Brexit, both at sectoral and national level. In the context of that debate, the confirmation of a trade deal with Canada can only be good news because it opens up another theatre of business for an open economy such as ours, with the prospect of more trade, interaction and exchange. There is massive business potential from this deal. There is a popular idea that farming interests could be prejudiced but John Whelan, the chief executive of the Irish Exporters Association, has confirmed that he sees no risk to Irish agriculture from this deal.