Michael D'Arcy (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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715. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his efforts to open market access for Irish beef inside and outside the European Union; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21364/16]

Tony McLoughlin (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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721. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the efforts his Department is making to open market access for Irish beef inside and outside the European Union; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21370/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 715 and 721 together.

There is a strong demand for beef globally and my role as Minister is to facilitate market access and to enable Irish exporters to take advantage of the opportunities that arise. In 2015 Ireland exported an estimated €2.2 billion, or approximately 500,000 tonnes of beef, to almost 80 countries around the globe. Food Wise 2025 acknowledged that there is a rising global population together with the growing middle classes in a number of rapidly growing economies and changing dietary patterns to incorporate increased protein consumption. Taken together these provide a great opportunity for increasing the exports of high quality, safe and sustainably produced Irish beef.

As a member of the European Union, Ireland already has full market access to the 27 other EU Member States for beef and other commodities produced. Therefore Ireland has ready market access to a population of over 500 million inhabitants, which indeed is one of the many benefits that comes with being a Member of the EU. The majority of Irish beef exported is to other EU Member States. According to Bord Bia, in 2015 some 52% of Irish beef exports went to the UK and 36% went to other EU markets. Recent events in markets close to home have highlighted once again the importance of diversifying our international beef markets. As an exporting country, accessing new markets is crucial to the long-term sustainability of our beef sector.

The balance of our beef exports was to non EU markets including the USA, Middle East, Philippines, Hong Kong, Ghana and Switzerland among others. These Third Country markets are increasingly an important alternative outlet for the industry. My Department engages on an ongoing basis with many Third countries, in collaboration with Bord Bia, the meat industry, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the European Commission on various market access issues. My Department continues to push strongly for market access to other Third Countries.

In 2015 Ireland had some notable successes including becoming the first EU Member State to gain beef access to the USA, having a BSE ban lifted by the Chinese authorities and negotiating an extension to our market access to the Philippines, where we are now the second largest supplier of beef. More recently beef markets in Canada, Oman and the Maldives have also been opened. Significantly our access to the US market was recently further extended to incorporate manufacturing beef, as a testament to our beef production and regulatory systems. It is expected that similar extended beef access to Saudi Arabia will be achieved shortly. We are currently in the process of trying to secure beef access to other third countries including,inter alia, China, South Korea, Israel, Ukraine and Vietnam. It is my intention to continue to focus on developing as many third country markets as possible in order to provide exporters as many commercial opportunities as possible in a competitive global marketplace.