Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

459. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to set out the status of the progress towards the programme for Government commitment to continuing to explore the potential development of an all-island label; and the number of North South ministerial meetings at which he raised this subject with colleagues. [40891/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Programme for a Partnership Government sets out a number of priorities for the beef sector and the overarching commitment is to ensure that sustained profitability can be achieved by farmers within the sector. This continues to be implemented in different ways including the increase in funding for the RDP in 2017 under which suckler farmers will gain through various schemes. There is also a commitment to continue with hosting the Beef Forum which is also being met and I have hosted two meetings of this forum to date.

The idea of an all island label is more complex issue though requiring engagement with authorities in Northern Ireland, the UK, and the EU who determine the rules as well as retail sector who have customer specifications for the product which they sell. While such labelling has been mooted as a mechanism to alleviate pressures on the live export trade between the Republic and Northern Ireland it must be noted that this trade is determined by a range of factors primarily the Sterling exchange rate but also including supply of cattle in each market, retailer preferences and production cycles, among others.

An all-island label has been previously raised with British retailers who have made clear that they have a longstanding policy to market British and Irish beef separately and have therefore explicitly rejected the concept of an all-island or mixed label. This means that beef must be sourced from animals originating in one EU Member State i.e. born, reared and slaughtered in Ireland or the United Kingdom.

I have met my counterpart from Northern Ireland, Michelle McIlveen MLA on many occasions now to discuss issues of mutual interest and of course the north-south trade in cattle and beef has featured in these discussions. Needless to say our focus now is on minimising the effects of the UK’s proposed withdrawal from the EU and on securing arrangements which are best suited to the development of our respective agri-food sectors.