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Covid-19 Pandemic

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 27 January 2021

Wednesday, 27 January 2021

Questions (922)

Seán Sherlock

Question:

922. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the budgetary analysis being carried out to plan for long Covid-19 impacts in his Department and each State agency under the remit of his Department in tabular form. [4480/21]

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Written answers

The delivery of essential services to farmers, fishers and the food and forestry sectors is being prioritised by my Department and its agencies throughout the course of the pandemic. The necessary steps have been taken to ensure that producers and processors can continue to operate effectively and keep supply lines open and that the Department and agencies can operate as effectively as possible.

The Food Wise 2025 High Level Implementation Committee, chaired by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine and including the agri-food State Agencies, met five times in 2020, and Covid has been a standing item on the agenda. The cross-Government response; the continuity of services to the sector; specific supports; and the potential long-term impacts for the sector are discussed. A variety of supports to assist the sector been implemented including a scheme of aids to private storage under the CAP for certain dairy products, €50 million for beef finishing farms and a Temporary Fleet Tie-up Scheme for fishing vessels.

Many of the horizontal supports available to individuals and businesses are also available to the agri-food sector, including the Covid-19 Working Capital Loan Scheme and the Covid-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme (CGS), both of which are supported by my Department.

The agri-food sector faced many challenges on the domestic and international front last year arising from the economic impacts of the pandemic. Despite this, the sector has proven to be very resilient. Production has been relatively unaffected. After an initial decrease in farm gate prices, they have stabilised and recovered across most sectors.

Agri-food exports for 2020 are estimated at €14.3 billion, down marginally from €14.5 billion in 2019. This is a remarkable achievement considering the challenges food and drink producers have faced, including the complete shutdown of food services in many of Ireland’s export markets across the globe.

In Budget 2021, the Government prioritised management of the Covid crisis and Brexit. My Department and its agencies, in consultation with stakeholders, will continue to monitor the impacts on the agri-food sector as the situation evolves, and will continue to provide appropriate supports to the sector, as it has done throughout the pandemic to date.

My Department and its agencies are monitoring the impact of the pandemic on their own budgets in light of changes to expenditure in areas such as travel and subsistence that manifested in 2020 and which are likely to continue in 2021. The increased use of remote working and video conferencing technology platforms are likely to deliver savings and benefits on a longer term basis. However, there may also be additional costs associated with these ways of working that will have to be factored into the plans for the operation of future Remote Working policies. My Department is working with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and other Departments to contribute to a framework to support the implementation of these working arrangements for the civil service in the future.

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