Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 43: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the number of meetings of the Food Agency Co-operation Council in 2004, 2005 and to date in 2006; the number of times that its successor has held meetings; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40493/06]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Food Agency Co-operation Council met on 20 occasions since its inception in 2000. During 2004 and 2005 priority was given instead to meetings of the food development agencies directly concerned with the food programme components of the National Development Plan 2000-2006. Two such meetings took place in 2004, one in 2005 and one in 2006 to assess progress on the Plan in preparation for meetings of the NDP Monitoring Committees.

In the light of a more market orientated CAP, the 2015 Agri-Vision Report and the Enterprise Strategy Report my Department examined future co-operation arrangements between agencies for the most effective development of the agri-food industry. Arising from this, I included in the Agri-Vision 2015 Action Plan the establishment of a high level group of CEOs of food agencies, which will subsume and develop the role of the Food Agency Co-Operation Council. The inaugural meeting of the new Agency CEO Group took place on 18 July 2006. The next meeting of the Group will take place in the coming weeks.

The Group, which is chaired at Ministerial level, comprises of the Chief Executives/ Directors of Teagasc, Bord Bia, Enterprise Ireland, Bord Iascaigh Mhara, Údarás na Gaeltachta, Fáilte Ireland, FÁS, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, and the Food Safety Promotion Board. The Group operates in tandem with the Food Industry Committee which has also met chaired at Ministerial level.

In addition arrangements have been made by my Department to bring the agencies together at regional level to drive the development of regional and local food enterprises. The first of these initiatives, the North West Food Forum — Market Focus for Small Food Enterprises — took place in Killybegs in November 2005. Similar regional events took place in Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan (North-East) in June 2006, in Portlaoise (Midlands) in September 2006 and in Kilkenny (South-East) last week. At these fora, significant time was allocated for the agencies to network with the industry stakeholders and to showcase the services available to assist regional food company development.