Neale Richmond (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Like the Acting Chairman, Senator Horkan, I come from south County Dublin and I got a slight smirking remark from the Whip when I asked for speaking time for this debate this evening. While, like the Acting Chairman, I spent my entire time in the council representing the 63 farmers in the Glencullen-Sandyford ward to the best of my ability, I appreciate that I do not come from a typical rural background with a typical interest in the agricultural sector. I welcome the Minister to the House and I thank him for his comments. Even though my late father lived and worked in Dublin, it was for an agrifood company. I spent far too many days as a youngster at the National Ploughing Championships and shows all around Ireland handing out brochures and various other knick knacks, not to mention time spent on the beef and dairy farms of both my grandfathers.

I want to speak on the post-Brexit situation and how that fateful decision taken by the people of UK will impact on the Irish economy in its entirety. We appreciate that so much economic activity in this country relies on, is tied to and is dependent on the agricultural sector.One does not need to be from a family farm in rural Ireland to appreciate that and know the importance. It is in that context that I want to pick up where Senator Mac Lochlainn left off in stressing the importance of new and ever freer and deeper trade deals to allow Ireland to navigate the choppy waters we face into, given the fateful decision by the British people to leave the EU. The statistic is that 50% of our beef is exported to the UK, which is great. We can offset that and enter into new EU trade deals with China and the US that would see Irish beef as well as Irish lamb enter those markets. I welcome the decision announced by the Minister in the past few days that Irish lamb would be allowed into the Iranian market. What are the other opportunities? What other trade deals are on the table? How have the decisions taken by the people of the UK, this Chamber but, more importantly, the parliament of Wallonia last week jeopardised the CETA agreement?

I stated on the record a few weeks ago that I believe CETA is a good deal that protects the interests of farmers in Ireland and across the EU bearing in mind that 95% of farms in the EU are family farms. While I appreciate that there is far more commercial farming in Canada, there were necessary provisions in the deal to protect this area. What will be the impact going forward? I know the South Korean trade deal has proven to be wholly beneficial both to the Europeans and the South Koreans, particularly Ireland, but is the fateful decision of a region in Belgium with a population of less than three million jeopardising talks with the Australians, as I read in reports on debates in Canberra overnight? What about possible EU deals that are starting to be negotiated with New Zealand, other Asian countries, Latin America, the Caribbean, China, Russia, Turkey, Africa and, of course, the US in the fateful TTIP agreement? I have done some work on this agreement through the Committee of the Regions. I have taken time out to look at the negotiating documents in Dublin and Brussels. I think it is a good deal. However, while there may be commercial merit in negotiating trade deals in secret behind closed doors, it jeopardises their well-being and has played a large part in the resistance to CETA, particularly among the labour movement in continental Europe and various sectors here, including food producers and providers. It is vital for the Government to take cognisance of this issue and for it to be brought back to the European Council.

We need free trade. We need more, better and freer trade but in order to grasp that, take advantage of it and offset some of the obvious negativity that will come post-Brexit decisions, we need to see our leaders at Government and European Council level taking the initiative to make sure these deals are negotiated. Language from Senator Mac Lochlainn and others that we will flood the European market with low-quality produce harks back to the protectionist ideals and scare mongering we saw in early 1970s Ireland and the UK from certain agricultural producers, manufacturers and elements in the labour movement. These scare tactics were proven to be untrue. Anyone in this Chamber can accept that membership of the EC, which became the EU, has been wholly positive, particularly for the Irish agricultural sector, and that we have benefited greatly from the Common Agricultural Policy. Could the Minister address what possibilities there are in the future in respect of trade, what can be done about it and what changes can be made to negotiating tactics?