Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 20 May 2021
50. Deputy Neale Richmond asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of the work of his Department to promote trade diversification for Irish food exports post-Brexit to the rest of the EU; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26466/21]
View answerDeveloping trade opportunities is an integral part of my Department’s response to the challenges associated with Brexit. Encouragingly, in 2020 - an extremely challenging year for trade - exports to other EU Member States held up, exceeding €4 billion.
Recent budgets for the Department have provided additional funding to Bord Bia to support market diversification efforts to the rest of the EU. These resources have supported Bord Bia's Market and Customer Prioritisation exercise, as well as its Market Intensification Programme.
Under the Market Intensification Programme, Bord Bia promoted Irish beef and lamb in over 1,000 German retail outlets. It also hosted an online beef promotion event with one of Italy’s largest retailers. Furthermore, Bord Bia and Tourism Ireland carried out a range of activities in the Netherlands, as well as creating video content for a Spanish TV cookery channel promoting Irish grass-fed Hereford beef.
Bord Bia continues to provide assistance to companies in establishing and expanding their presence in EU markets, and this work is supported by my Department's Agriculture Attachés across Europe.
Trade missions also play a key role in building customer relations. For example, the Department, in collaboration with Bord Bia, led a series of virtual trade missions, receptions and key customer meetings in the fourth quarter of 2020. These had a strong European dimension. Such was the positive feedback that similar events were successfully completed as part of this year’s St Patrick's Day trade agenda. These meetings focused on key customers in the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands.
I will continue to avail of every opportunity to promote trade diversification for Irish food exports post-Brexit in Europe and further afield.
