Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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1554. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the extent of measures taken to protect the integrity of Irish food exports post-Brexit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33818/20]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Developing and increasing third country market access and ensuring the highest standard of food production have long been integral parts of my Department’s strategy for the development of the Irish Agri-food sector. The challenges posed by Brexit have required an increased emphasis on third country market access in order to protect the Agri food sector, given our exposure to the UK market.

Irish agri-food exports continue to grow, with total exports in 2019 of €14.5 billion, an increase of 6% on 2018. It has, and always will be the case, that the integrity of these exports is of paramount importance to Ireland’s reputation globally, and this will remain so post-Brexit.

Trade missions will continue to play a key role in the market advancement of Irish agri-food produce. Of course, with the on-going pandemic, our traditional "in person" method of connecting and developing trade links with new and existing customers is not feasible. To that end, my Department, in collaboration with Bord Bia, is holding a series of Ministerial Virtual Trade Missions to a number of Asian countries shortly.

Minister Heydon and I, again in conjunction with Bord Bia, are also currently involved in a series of virtual meetings across priority markets with key international customers.

Regardless of the outcome of the trade negotiations between the EU and the UK, from 1 January 2021, things will change for our agri-food industry. Irish exporters to the UK will have to comply with UK import requirements from 1 January 2021. Whilst my Department has put in place resources to meet the challenges posed by Brexit, including challenges associated with the provision of export certification to the UK post-transition, we await further clarity from the UK Government on the specific export health certificates that will be required.