Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

162. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the extent to which he expects to be in a position to maximise opportunities for the dairy and beef sectors while being mindful of the need to meet carbon reduction targets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24409/20]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Programme for Government, which sets a clear ambition around climate action, also explicitly references the special economic role of agriculture in rural Ireland.

Targeted supports for the beef and dairy sectors over recent years have focused on improving the economic performance of the sectors, while also improving environmental sustainability. The Beef Data Genomics Programme, for example, has made a siginficant contribution to improving the overall environmental and economic efficiency of the beef herd. The BEEP-S (2020)  programme records the weaning efficiency of individual suckler cows, and also supports best practice in welfare management.  The Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Schemes (TAMS) supports capital investment in measures such as low emissions slurry spreading equipment, an important part of the Teagasc Marginal Abatement Cost Curve.

Ireland is rated among the top performing countries in Europe in terms of carbon efficiency per unit of output, for dairy in particular. This is primarily attributable to our carbon-efficient grass-based systems of production. Ireland’s sustainability credentials, verified through Origin Green, are a key point of differentiation from our competitors in the marketplace.  However, there is no room for complacency in this regard, and I know that there is a shared ambition from stakeholders in the sector for further improvement.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

163. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the extent to which he foresees marketing to play an even more significant part in the sale of Irish lamb, beef, pig meat, dairy and poultry products at home and abroad having particular regard to challenges arising from world trade or Brexit development; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24410/20]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The pursuit and development of new markets for Irish agri-food exports is an ongoing and central component of the strategic development of the agri-food sector as set out in Food Wise 2025, and is of particular relevance given the need to diversify our markets and to reduce our exposure to the UK market in the light of Brexit. 

Over the last number of Budgets increased funding has been provided to Bord Bia in order to strengthen its understanding of consumer priorities and preferences in Ireland and in distant markets, and to communicate those insights to Irish food companies for use in product promotion, development, branding and marketing. 

Trade missions also play a key role in market and trade advancement.  In recent years, successful visits have taken place to Turkey, China, Japan, South Korea, Algeria and Egypt, among others. Increased market access has been achieved with these visits, including through the abolition of the age restriction on beef exports to Japan, through additional beef plant approvals for export to China and through the progression of beef access in South Korea. My Department, supported by Bord Bia, intends to hold virtual trade missions later this year, with Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia being considered. Destinations are selected strategically and in keeping with the Bord Bia market prioritisation exercise of December 2017.

The Government's focus on, and commitment to, new market development has been illustrated by its appointment of my colleague, Martin Heydon T.D., as Minister of State with specific responsibility for this task. In addition, my Department's international trade activities are being reorganised and further developed, as we deal with the twin challenges of Brexit and the Covid 19 pandemic.  

More generally, my Department will continue to seek out and identify new markets, and I am of course ready to respond as appropriate to any opportunities that may arise.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

164. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the extent to which he remains satisfied of the ability of the agri-business sector to develop alongside the need to meet carbon reduction targets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24411/20]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Programme for Government commits to an average 7% per annum reduction in overall greenhouse gas emissions from 2021 to 2030 (a 51% reduction over the decade) and to achieving net zero emissions by 2050. Every sector is expected to contribute to meeting this target by implementing policy changes, and the special economic and social role of agriculture and the distinct characteristics of biogenic methane, as described by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, will be fully recognised in plans to achieve these targets.

The agri-food sector has a strong foundation on which it can build to develop new practices, technologies and strategies to reduce its emissions. Many of these will also have co-benefits in terms of improving the productivity and efficiency of agri-food businesses, and indeed in terms of other environmental co-benefits. Taking a system-wide approach can thus improve their environmental, economic and social sustainability.

I am acutely aware of the enormity of this challenge for the sector and for this reason, I believe that the successor strategy to Food Wise 2025 can play an important role in providing a framework for helping to realise this ambition. The agri-food sector has been well served over the last 20 years by having a series of ten-year strategies to guide its development and we have committed in the Programme for Government that this should continue with the preparation of a new strategy to 2030.

The Stakeholder Committee established to develop the new Strategy are currently carrying out their deliberations. Their terms of reference are to outline the vision and key objectives, with associated actions, required to ensure the economic, environmental and social sustainability of the agri-food sector in the decade ahead. I have already met with the Chair of the Committee, Tom Arnold, and the Committee itself and I am satisfied that their work will undoubtedly make a very important contribution to ensuring the viability of the agri-food sector. The Programme for Government has committed to publishing the strategy within six months of Government formation. It also stated that the strategy should provide an ambitious blueprint for the industry for the years ahead, adding value sustainably in the agri-food sector into the future, and supporting family farms and employment in rural Ireland. There is also a commitment to ensure that, in addition to growing international markets and value-added export as a key priority, a strategic focus of the strategy will be on environmental protection, reversing biodiversity decline and developing additional market opportunities for primary producers, closer to home.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

165. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the extent to which he is engaging with agri-producers with a view to ameliorating concerns about viability and below-cost selling in the sector; the extent to which he is engaging with producers, processors and supermarkets with a view to achieving an equilibrium that is fair, positive and opportunity-creating for those in the sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24412/20]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Programme for Government includes a commitment to:

Ensure fairness, equity, and transparency in the food chain by establishing a new authority called the National Food Ombudsman (NFO) to enforce the Unfair Trading Practices Directive. This new authority will enforce EU-wide rules on prohibited unfair trading practices in the food supply chain and will have powers to enforce this Directive, penalising those who breach regulations. The NFO will have a specific role in analysing and reporting on price and market data in Ireland.

Directive (EU) No. 2019/633, the Unfair Trading Practices (UTP Directive), must be transposed into Irish law by 1 May 2021. This can be done by way of a Statutory Instrument, but any measures that extend beyond the minimum harmonisation requirements of the UTP Directive will require primary legislation.

Therefore, I propose to adopt a two-step approach to this commitment.  

Firstly, my officials are currently drafting a proposal for an Statutory Instrument to directly transpose the UTP Directive as it stands.  Secondly, the legal requirements for the establishment of a new Office of a Food Ombudsman are also being considered, including the requirement for primary legislation in order to give that Office additional powers going beyond those in the UTP Directive.