Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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419. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the extent to which alternative markets for the agri-food sector previously dependent on the UK market have been found to date; the particular areas in which difficulties have been experienced; the extent to which his Department is actively engaged to find alternative markets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32768/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Developing increased trade opportunities continues to be an integral part of the Department’s response to the challenges posed by Brexit.

The key challenge here is to continue to maximise the volume and value of Irish agri-food exports to all destinations, and to anticipate and, as best we can, mitigate the potential impact of adverse developments in trading patterns. This requires a two-handed approach, comprised of support for our existing and potential future UK trade, as well as further development and diversification in EU and third country markets.

The Department and its agencies have invested hugely in this work and encouragingly, despite an extremely challenging year in 2020, exports totalled €14.3 billion, with 37% of agri-food exports going to the UK, which is down from 40% in 2016, the year the UK voted to leave the EU. Remaining agri-food exports in 2020 were split between the EU-27 market (31%) and international market (32%) in 2020.

The UK remains a priority market for Irish agri-food exporters. The Trade and Cooperation Agreement reached by the EU and the UK provides for zero tariffs and quotas, and is welcome given the highly integrated Ireland-UK supply chains and the value of trade in both directions. It will assist Irish exporters to maintain their UK market share, and to remain competitive against third country imports to the UK.

The Department continues to be very active in the development of third country markets through Trade Missions and key customer engagements; these were carried out virtually in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are also continuing to work on the opportunities provided by recent EU Free Trade Agreements with third countries, and to press for the removal of technical market access barriers across a range of third country markets.