Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 March 2017
696. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will immediately implement recommendation 21 and review Food Wise 2025 following the publication of the all-party report by the Joint Oireachtas Committee for Agriculture, Food and the Marine on the effect of Brexit on Irish agriculture and fisheries; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11559/17]
View answerFood Wise 2025, the ten year strategy for the agri-food sector published in July 2015 identifies the opportunities and challenges facing the sector and provides an enabling strategy that will allow the sector to grow and prosper. Food Wise includes more than 400 specific recommendations, spread across the cross-cutting themes of sustainability, innovation, human capital, market development and competitiveness; as well as specific sectoral recommendations.
If these recommendations are implemented, the expert committee which drew up the Food Wise 2025 Strategy believed that ambitious growth projections were achievable by 2025; including
- increasing the value of agri-food exports by 85% to €19 billion; and
- the creation of 23,000 additional jobs in the agri-food sector, all along the supply chain from primary production to high value added product development.
With regard to the Oireachtas Committee’s recommendation to review the strategy in the light of Brexit, it is important to understand that Food Wise 2025 is a living and evolving strategy. I chair quarterly meetings of the High Level Implementation Committee (HLIC), with high level representatives from all the relevant Departments and State agencies. The committee reviews progress on detailed actions on a quarterly basis, in order to identify and solve problems quickly. Brexit has now been included as a standard item on the agenda of each meeting of the HLIC. It is clear that driving the implementation of the Food Wise recommendations, particularly those related to market development, competitiveness and innovation, will assume even greater importance in the light of the UK decision.
