Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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773. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when the next meeting of the Beef Forum will be held; the issues to be discussed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22832/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The Beef Roundtable forum was established in April 2014 in order to bring all relevant stakeholders together and to facilitate open discussion between industry, farming organisations and others on the strategic path forward for the beef sector. The Forum has met on seven occasions, and has been a useful vehicle for engagement for all those involved in the sector.

As part of the programme for Government, a clear commitment was given to continue the work of the Beef Forum. I have been engaged in an intensive round of discussions with stakeholders since taking office and listening to their views on the future strategic direction of the beef sector.

The next meeting of the Beef Forum is scheduled for this Thursday 21 July 2016. The meeting will continue in the same format as before and the agenda will reflect the current issues of relevance to the strategic direction of the Irish beef sector while providing a forum for sectoral stakeholders to exchange views on these issues. These issues will include climate change, the implementation of the Food Wise 2025 strategy, the Beef Data and Genomics Scheme and the market outlook for Irish beef for the second half of 2016.