Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 15 September 2021
760. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the degree to which he remains confident that ways and means can be found to ensure that the negative impact of Brexit on Irish food exporters can be alleviated to the greatest extent possible; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44173/21]
View answerThere is no doubt that the outcome of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, which has resulted in the UK leaving the EU Single Market and Customs Union, presents significant challenges for Irish agri-food exports to UK. However, my focus, and the focus of the Department, is to continue to maximise the volume and value of Irish agri-food exports to all destinations, including the UK market. This requires a comprehensive approach which includes support for our existing and potential future UK trade, as well as further diversification into EU and third country markets.
The Department and its agencies have invested hugely in this work. Encouragingly, despite an extremely challenging year in 2020, agri-food exports totalled €14.3 billion, with 37% going to the UK. The latest trade data for 2021 has also seen the value of Irish agri-food exports to the UK recover from a decline in the first quarter, to now being ahead of that for the same period last year.
The UK remains a priority market for Irish agri-food exporters, and while the EU-UK TCA provides for zero tariffs and quotas, there are additional documentary and import control requirements which have the potential to impact on our exports to UK.
The Department has been engaged in a wide range of activities to get ready and to help industry get ready for these new requirements.
We have engaged extensively with all stakeholders in the supply chain through trials, testing, information webinars and training sessions. The Department is also implementing an extensive additional staff resource plan to support the increased demand for export health certification, and IT systems and infrastructure have been upgraded across the country to support the provision of export health certification to businesses.
I, and my Department, also continues to be very active in opening up new opportunities in third country markets through our Trade Mission programme and key direct customer engagements. These activities have been maintained virtually since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but I am looking forward to restarting a round of face-to-face engagements in the coming period.
I also continue 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. All of these activities are part of my ambition to grow the export footprint of the industry, including in the UK market, despite the challenges which Brexit has raised.
