Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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1620. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the progress made to date at EU level regarding the possible reopening of the Russian market for some food products; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27235/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The ban by the Russian Federation on a range of EU agri-products, which was imposed in August 2014, has had direct and indirect impacts for the EU and Irish agri-food sectors.

Some Member States, such as Ireland, whilst having a less direct exposure to the Russian market than other Member States such as the Baltic Countries, are affected indirectly as additional product which would have been destined for the Russian market becomes available on EU and global markets. In this respect the Russian ban, when initially imposed, exacerbated what was an already softening global dairy outlook. Whilst there is evidence that new markets have been found for EU dairy produce in the intervening period, any reopening of the Russian Market would be a welcome development as I am aware that Irish companies, for example in the dairy, meat and seafood sectors, view it as a market of significant potential.

It must be taken into consideration that the issues giving rise to the Russian ban were geo-political in nature and any amelioration of the situation will also no doubt have to be in that context. The Russian market remains open to a number of important products such as Infant Formula, and the Russian authorities have made a number of minor adjustments to the list of banned products in accordance with domestic needs. There has been no progress, however, in the EU/Russian negotiations to remove the ban. Ireland and the EU continue to engage with the Russian Federation on issues of access for Irish and EU food business operators and products.