Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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47. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he is satisfied that Bord Bia is properly funded in view of the challenge faced by the food industry following the withdrawal of Britain from the EU; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12203/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Additional funding has been progressively made available to Bord Bia to support a strong market intelligence and promotion activities that will assist companies seeking to sustain and diversify markets. This will be kept under review.

Following the UK referendum, Bord Bia developed targeted market and business support programmes for which an additional €1.6 million was made available in 2016. A further €2 million has been provided in 2017, building on substantial increased funding since 2014 and approval for an additional 20 staff, of whom 16 have been recruited to date.

This funding will enable Bord Bia to undertake a number of new activities in 2017, including the doubling of unique client company participation.

Bord Bia has engaged with food and drink companies challenged by Brexit and has developed a four pillar strategy to provide them with market research, advice and support services. The four pillars are - Managing Volatility, Obtaining Consumer and Market Insight, Deepening Customer Engagement and Extending Market Reach.

An additional €2 million in 2017 builds on increased funding in recent years and will enable Bord Bia to undertake a number of activities in 2017, including

- an export marketing strategy programme to help individual companies to maintain and grow their position in the UK and/or diversify their market reach

- research to identify priority market opportunities

- participation in three new trade fairs in Asia

- increased presence at key shows such as Gulf Food, where space for Irish companies was doubled, and Anuga in Germany.

The activities planned build on the supplementary market and business support programmes, which were developed by Bord Bia following the UK referendum and for which additional funding of €1.6 million was made available to Bord Bia in 2016.

Skills are an important element in delivering market related research and services. In 2016 sanction was given to Bord Bia to recruit 20 additional staff. The recruitment programme is well advanced, with just four positions to be filled in 2017. These additional staff resources have supported a number of initiatives including

- the opening of offices in Warsaw and Singapore

- the establishment of The Thinking House , a consumer insight and innovation centre which provided services to over 100 client companies in 2016

- the addition of a trade marketing specialist in Shanghai

- an additional trade marketing specialist in the UK and

- participation in an increased number of international trade fairs during 2017.

At present, a review of staff resources is underway as part of an overall workforce planning exercise by my Department and its agencies. Bord Bia is assessing priorities and needs and preparing an updated workforce plan for 2017 and the years ahead. This will include identifying strategies and further measures to support market diversification for food and drink producers and companies.