Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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486. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when the post of agricultural counsellor at the Irish Embassy in Moscow will be filled; and the length of time this post has been vacant. [39737/18]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The role of Agricultural Attaché in the Moscow Embassy has been vacant since May 2017. The decision to defer the appointment of a replacement was taken in light of the now limited opportunities for EU/Irish Agri food exports to the Russian market since the Russian Federation imposed a ban on the importation of pigs, pork and reproductive material certified from the EU after 26 January 2014, followed by a second, more general, ban on the importation of agri-food products in August 2014. Although partially lifted (since 1 June 2016), the overall ban remains in place.

There are no immediate plans to fill this vacancy. However, the Agriculture Research Officer position within the Embassy - which assisted the agricultural attaché - has been maintained with a view to providing a continued agriculture presence that can be built upon if and when the attaché post is renewed.

This matter will be given further consideration in the coming months as part of my Department's annual review of Agriculture Attaché positions.