Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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609. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on running a promotional campaign to urge consumers and restaurants to purchase seafood from Irish fishermen and women to help offset the economic impact of Covid-19. [13507/20]

Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The promotion of Irish seafood on the domestic and international markets is a statutory function of Bord Bia – the State Body of my Department charged with such matters. Decisions on individual promotion and marketing campaigns of Irish food, drink, horticulture and seafood are an operational matter for that organisation and as such the Deputy can contact them at info@BordBia.ie

I wish to advise the Deputy that Bord Bia as a publicly funded State Body is prohibited by EU state aid rules from advertising and promotion solely on the grounds of national origin. This is on the basis that such advertising in any Member State could create unfair competition and a barrier to the free movements of trade, goods and services within the Single Market.

However, I am pleased to inform the Deputy that Bord Bia are currently completing a series of Ireland Market Promotions, which have been ongoing since late March. These activities are spanning TV, radio and social media, and encourages consumers to use a range of quality assured food products, including Irish whitefish, to create healthy and comforting meals at home, during this time.  This current promotional and advertising campaign for the seafood and meat sectors on our national media are category based, and are situated within the legal permissions of the Bord Bia Sustainable Quality Assurance Logo, where the national origin is very much in a secondary capacity.

This campaign is just one of the responses designed by Bord Bia as part of the whole of Government response to the Covid-19 pandemic.