Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 434, 482, 486, 511 and 515 together.

The value in € million of Ireland’s trade in agricultural products with Russia since 2008 is set out in the following table.

Year	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Exports	70	42	120	154	176	235
Imports	8.7	4.1	4.3	1.7	7.0	12.6

The main products exported to Russia in 2013 were tea extracts, pigmeat, dairy products, seafood, beverages, beef offal and pedigree animals (mainly pigs). Imports from Russia were largely made up of cereals and animal feed.

Not all agricultural products were affected by the Presidential ban. Tea extract, infant formula, casein and beverages are not subject to the trade restrictions. Moreover, Russia had already imposed a blanket ban on exports of pig-meat from the EU earlier in the year arising from an African Swine fever outbreak in Eastern Europe. There were also existing temporary restrictions in place on certain Irish plants producing dairy products, beef, beef offal and seafood arising from a Russian audit visit earlier this year so that the effect of the Presidential ban was incremental. My Department and the Irish Embassy in Moscow have been heavily engaged with the Russian authorities on this matter and are submitting the required corrective actions to have these temporary restrictions lifted as soon as possible.

Having said that, the closure of the Russian market is clearly a matter of concern for Irish producers. Last year Irish agri-food exports to this market accounted for 2.5% of our total agri-food exports. We had identified Russia as a major strategic market for Irish dairy produce in particular. Indeed we had seen significant increases of all food and drink exports to Russia over the past four years and we had hoped to build on this trade in the coming years. Coming on top of the series of restrictive measures taken by the Russian authorities earlier in 2014 which affected our exports of pigmeat, in particular, to Russia, the Presidential ban was a significant setback to our strategic plans.

Apart from the direct effect of the loss of the Russian market, the big issue for Ireland is the displacement effect on European exports and the need to find alternative markets. There is no doubt that the loss of a market as large as Russia will have knock-on effects for all EU producers. While the impact on some sectors is immediate, I am alert to the potential impact of a longer-term ban across all sectors including beef and pigmeat.

The response to the Russian restrictions is being taken at a number of different levels .

Immediately upon announcement of the Presidential ban, I asked Bord Bia to establish an advice line to make the most up to date information available to Irish companies exporting to Russia. This dedicated support unit is assisting companies with regard to the trading situation and in progressing opportunities elsewhere. I and my Department are making strenuous efforts to create other market opportunities for Irish agri-food exports and last month we were successful in securing the opening of the Philippines to exports of Irish beef, pigmeat and sheepmeat and the Vietnamese market for Irish pigmeat. These are key markets in South East Asia which have been identified by Irish exporters as being of major strategic importance. This is, of necessity, a long-term strategy. Later this year I will be undertaking a trade mission to China. China is a crucially important growth market for Irish food and drinks with vast import potential across a number of agricultural sectors.

In the meanwhile, my officials, including the agricultural attaché I appointed to Moscow last year continue to liaise at official level with the Russian authorities to resolve any technical issues still outstanding so that exports can flow freely once the current political situation is resolved and relations normalised.

As the Presidential ban applies to the EU as a whole, an EU-wide response is warranted.At the beginning of the month I attended an extraordinary meeting of EU agriculture ministers to discuss the matter. In that regard, I would acknowledge the prompt efforts made by the EU Commission to date to address the immediate problems caused by the market closure, both in the fruit and vegetables and dairy sectors. For Ireland, the expanded timeframe for application of aids to private storage for butter and skimmed milk powder and the extension of this facility to cheese will certainly help to stabilise the situation. My Department is currently working closely with the Irish dairy industry to ensure that it is well placed to avail of the supports. I also welcome the additional allocation of €60 million of EU funding for CAP promotion programmes I hope that these programmes will be targeted at finding replacement markets.

I have asked the Commission to continue to monitor the situation closely and to take prompt action, where appropriate. I also made clear at Council that there a number of tools available to us at EU level under the new Common Market regulation which we must be ready to deploy where required and where appropriate. I have also called on the Commission to increase the advance payment, payable to farmers from 16^thOctober next under the Direct Payments Scheme from the current 50%.