Written answers

Tuesday, 12 February 2019

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Brexit Issues

Photo of Lisa ChambersLisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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517. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he has formally met with the farming organisations here and in Northern Ireland to discuss the implications of Brexit for the sector; if so, the details of these meetings; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7124/19]

Photo of Michael CreedMichael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Within two weeks of the UK Referendum result in 2016, I established a Stakeholders Consultative Committee as a forum through which a full exchange of information between my Department and the range of farming, agri-food and fisheries stakeholders in Ireland could take place as the Brexit process unfolds. To date the Committee has met on 10 occasions. Some 31 different stakeholder groups have been represented at these meetings, including the main farming organisations.

I have also taken the opportunity through the All-Island Civic Dialogue process to discuss with the farming organisations here the challenges presented by Brexit, and of course have met with them on a regular basis outside of these formal occasions to monitor and discuss developments. This engagement has been very useful in helping not only to quantify the scale of the challenge facing the agri-food sector, and to discuss possible approaches to preparedness and contingency planning, but it has also helped to inform my approach to the negotiations, through the whole-of-Government approach being co-ordinated by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

While I have not had any formal meetings with the main Northern Ireland farming organisations, I have on occasion met with representatives of these organisations through the All Island Civic Dialogue process, and in the context of discussing developments with political representatives from the Oireachtas and from the Northern Ireland assembly. Discussion at these meetings has generally focused on the Irish Government’s commitment to the avoidance of a hard border on the island of Ireland and discussion around the main asks of the negotiations from the Government's perspective, including continued access to the UK market without tariffs, and with minimal additional customs and administrative procedures.

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