Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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124. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of Irish sheep meat plants that have formally applied for approval to export to the US; if he will confirm the number of plants given approval; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28703/23]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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125. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will set out the exports (details supplied), on a monthly basis in tabular form since the deal on bilateral veterinary certification with the USA was announced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28707/23]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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128. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the actions being taken by him and his Department to support and encourage exports to a market (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28710/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 124, 125 and 128 together.

In April of last year I was pleased to announce that agreement was reached between my Department and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) on a bilateral sheepmeat certificate. This agreement followed many years of negotiation at political, diplomatic, administrative and technical levels, with UDSA recognition in 2019 of the equivalence of Ireland’s sheep meat inspection system with US domestic standards being a key development.

As a result of this agreement, interested Food Business Operators can submit to my Department a site-specific, time-bound work programme demonstrating how they will achieve compliance with US requirements. Once a sheep meat plant successfully completes the USDA approval process, my Department will notify the Food Safety Inspection Service of the USDA that the plant can be registered to export sheep meat to the US.

At present, no sheep meat plants have submitted a documented work programme. My Department is actively engaging with interested plants in assessing how they can comply with the requirements for this trade.

As no plants have made a formal application for US approval, to date, no trade has taken place to date.

While the role of my Department is to open up international markets in consultation with stakeholders, it is up to the industry — with the support of my Department and Bord Bia’s marketing expertise — to capitalise on the resulting opportunities for trade.