Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 146: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food her short, medium and long term plans for the development of the agriculture and fishing sectors with particular reference to the need to develop and expand the industries and with the ability to compete on international markets; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7341/08]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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I would regard short term plans as those to be completed by year end and medium term strategies as those encompassed by the Department's three year Statement of Strategy. Longer term plans which impact on the development of the agri-food and fishing sectors are contained in departmental policy documents such as the AgriVision 2015 Action Plan, 'Steering a New Course'- the Seafood Strategy, 'Sea Change' the Marine Research Strategy; as well as in a range of cross-departmental Government policies including the Programme for Government, the National Development Plan, The Rural Development Programme, National Climate Change Strategy, etc.

I have approved a new Statement of Strategy for the Department of Agriculture and Food for 2008 to 2010. This will be published next month and sets out 49 key strategic actions which will be taken over the next three years to maintain and improve competitiveness and encourage the export orientated agri-food and fishing sectors. This Strategy Statement is underpinned by the detailed annual business plans produced for each division with the outcomes from these plans being presented in the Annual Report of the Department.

The new Strategy Statement is the mechanism used to implement the wider series of measures in the AV2105 Action Plan, NDP, RDP, 'Sea Change', Strategy for Science Technology and Innovation, Towards 2016 and other key sectoral development documents. The end result is an integrated package, with substantial public funding, designed to ensure optimal levels of efficiency, competitiveness, and market responsiveness of the agri-food and fishing sectors while also promoting food security and respecting the physical environment. Detailed implementation plans have been developed for the main elements of this package and regular reports on progress achieved are produced.