Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 March 2017
1. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the immediate contingency steps he is taking to safeguard the interests of the Irish agrifood and fishing sectors ahead of the UK’s move to leave the EU; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12573/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraWhat are the immediate contingency steps the Minister is taking to safeguard the interests of the Irish agriculture and the agrifood and fishing sectors ahead of the UK’s move to exit the EU, and will he give a full update on his activity in that respect?
I remind the House that I and my Department have been actively engaged in assessing the impact of the Brexit vote on the Irish agrifood sector, consulting appropriate stakeholders and engaging the relevant politicians and institutions. This work is being done in conjunction with the overall Government response being co-ordinated by the Department of the Taoiseach.
I fully recognise the potential difficulties the agrifood sector could face in the event of a hard Brexit. The sector is of critical importance to our economy and its regional spread means it underpins the socioeconomic development in rural areas in particular. The sector employed approximately 173,000 people, that is, 8.6% of total employment in 2016, and the total value of agrifood exports was more than €11 billion.
The highly integrated nature of the agrifood trade between Ireland and the United Kingdom is shown in Central Statistics Office, CSO trade figures, with some €4.8 billion or 39% of exports to the UK last year, and €3.7 billion or 46% of agrifood products imported from the UK.
A number of credible analyses have been conducted on the potential impact on Ireland of a UK exit from the European Union, and all of these show that the result will most likely be unambiguously bad for the Irish agrifood sector. The more immediate impacts relate to the significant drop in the value of sterling against the euro and the effects this is having on industries with significant trading activity in the United Kingdom, especially the mushroom and forest products sectors.
The medium to longer-term impacts will revolve around the potential application of tariffs, the implications of divergence in regulations and standards, border controls with the Great Britain and Northern Ireland and certification, including the related areas of veterinary and animal health certification. There will also be difficult challenges in potential restricted access to fishing grounds and resources.
In response to the challenges being posed by Brexit, I have undertaken a number of important steps within my Department, which include the establishment of a Brexit response committee and a dedicated Brexit unit. I have also created a stakeholder consultative committee, which is complemented by frequent contact with representative organisations and companies on an ongoing basis. In addition, I hosted two all-island civic dialogues for the agrifood sector, to which interested stakeholders from both sides of the Border were invited. The first of these, focusing on the dairy, cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry sectors, took place on 15 December 2016. The second, dealing with the prepared consumer foods, horticulture, forestry and cereals-animal feed sectors, took place on 8 February 2017. A civic dialogue for the seafood sector was held on 1 February 2017. All of these opportunities for consultation allowed me and my Department establish the issues of critical concern to industry stakeholders. I am also in regular communication with Commissioner Hogan and my officials have taken part in meetings with the European Commission and the Barnier task force.
At EU level, I have had regular contact with the Commission and with counterparts in the UK and other member states, including meetings with my Spanish and Maltese colleagues on the margins of last Monday’s Council of Ministers.
Additional information not given on the floor of the House
Arrangements are currently being made for further formal bilateral meetings over the coming weeks, involving Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark over St Patrick’s weekend and Poland, Austria and Estonia at the end of the month. In all of these engagements I am making clear our demand for continued unfettered access to the UK market, without tariffs and with minimal additional customs and administrative procedures, as well as keeping the UK market viable for Irish producers by minimising the risk from UK trade agreements with third countries.
On fisheries, Ireland wants to maintain current access to fishing grounds in the UK zone in the Irish Sea, Celtic Sea and north of Donegal and protect our quota share for joint fish stocks.
Last October, as part of budget 2017, I announced measures aimed at alleviating the pressures of income volatility and the potential impact of Brexit. These measures included the introduction of the agri cashflow support loan fund of €150 million, enhanced taxation measures and an additional allocation of €1.6 million in 2016 and €2 million in 2017 to Bord Bia to ensure it is in a position to provide Brexit related supports to affected companies. I also provided for increased funding under the rural development programme and seafood development programme.
I recently awarded in excess of €1.8 million in grants to 19 seafood enterprises under the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund Operational Programme for the seafood sector. The aim of these grants is to incentivise seafood innovation and new product development as a means of meeting the Brexit challenge.
The UK’s decision to leave the EU reinforces the need to develop as many outlets for our agrifood exports as possible to minimise our dependence on any one market. This principle of market development is already a key component of Food Wise 2025. We have been very active in recent years in our efforts to diversify markets and to respond to consumer demands in emerging markets.
Inward and outward trade visits will play a key role in our efforts to provide as many markets as possible for Irish agrifood products. Last September, the Minister of State, Deputy Doyle, and I led very successful trade missions to China, Singapore, Vietnam and South Korea and to north Africa in November. I have just returned from leading a trade mission to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates which was very successful and I am currently considering potential further destinations for later in 2017.
I assure the House that the Government remains very focused on supporting the agrifood industry through the challenges ahead. I will continue to consult the industry as the negotiations develop and press Ireland's case for continued free access to the UK market without tariffs and with minimal additional customs and administrative procedures.
I thank the Minister for his response. He has clearly outlined the importance of Brexit for the Irish agrifood sector and the fishing industry. I do not need to reiterate that the agrifood sector is the largest indigenous employer as we face the threat that Brexit poses, in particular to our beef industry, with more than half of beef exports, one third of our dairy exports and exports from other sectors going to the UK. It is important that the Minister and Government are taking every effort and action to prepare for the upcoming negotiations and for Brexit, but unfortunately the Minister's actions in this respect and his preparedness in regard to the Government's activities are not what they need to be.
Fianna Fáil has been watching very closely, and its spokespersons have been monitoring very closely, what the Government has been doing. For example, I have received responses to parliamentary questions showing that Bord Bia, which will play a critical role in identifying new markets, will only get four additional staff next year. The Minister's Brexit unit within the Department has only three staff and the consultative forum he set up has only met twice since it was established in July last year.
Go raibh maith agat.
If the Minister were to plough a field, he would not sit on a Massey Ferguson 135, capable and all as it might be. He would need the equipment underneath him to deal-----
Go raibh maith agat.
-----with the challenge in front of him. The Minister is simply-----
Go raibh maith agat, a Theachta.
-----not resourcing his Department and its agencies sufficiently to meet this massive challenge for our country and for the agrifood sector.
Brexit is the challenge of our time and, to be honest, that kind of shrill analysis does no justice to the scale of the challenge we face. I have operated an open door in the context of Brexit and the Deputy has not walked through it with any proposals or submissions on the issue of Brexit. His party spoke at length about the requirement for a Brexit Minister, but it was not until the party entered into the transfer market in early 2017 that it actually got around to appointing a specific spokesperson on Brexit and, to be honest with Deputy McConalogue, we have been particularly underwhelmed by any utterances from that spokesperson, Deputy McConalogue or Fianna Fáil on the matter generally. I extend again an invitation for any submissions or proposals - concrete suggestions.
Regarding the Deputy's critique of Bord Bia, the agency got sanction for 20 staff in 2016, four of whom remain to be appointed. Its resources were increased in the latter half of 2016, in an immediate response to Brexit, by €1.6 million. It received an additional €2 million this year. We do not have endless resources. We need to be extremely clever in using resources.
Go raibh maith agat.
We have opened new offices in Warsaw and Singapore and have introduced a €150 million loan fund to address-----
Go raibh maith agat, a Aire.
-----the currency impact of Brexit immediately. If Deputy McConalogue has a single positive suggestion, we will embrace it. The Brexit unit has had no contact from him.
Go raibh maith agat, a Aire.
He did not turn up to Dublin Castle for the civic dialogue-----
Go raibh maith agat.
-----on the two occasions it was held there, when all representatives of industry were present. I invite him-----
Glaoim ar an Teachta McConalogue.
-----to talk to industry because it knows we have consulted extensively, analysed this issue-----
Go raibh maith agat, a Aire.
-----and prepared well.
Go raibh míle maith agat, a Aire.
This is the challenge of our times. It is beyond point-scoring.
Glaoim ar an Teachta McConalogue.
Let us have concrete engagement and suggestions.
We have gone way over time.
There is an adage that attack is the best form of defence. People often revert to this strategy when they have difficult positions to defend. The Minister is seeking positive suggestions. I have pointed out some very serious ones he should adapt, among them proper resourcing of his Department and the agencies that have a key role to play in this regard. He did not address my point about the fact that his Brexit unit only has three staff. There are many reasonable, good-sized farms in this country that have three people working full-time on them. I know many others in the Department will be and are already engaged in this task but only three dedicated people are attached to the Brexit unit the Minister himself set up. Similar British units have hundreds of staff working specifically on this issue. It is symptomatic as well that there is no Brexit Minister to engage with countries on behalf of the Government every single day that is available. For example, last week, the Minister was on an important one-week trade mission to Saudi Arabia and neighbouring countries. While he is engaged in other activities and other Ministers are engaged in their day-to-day business, there is no specific person-----
Go raibh maith agat.
-----engaging on a bilateral basis with other countries in this regard.
Go raibh maith agat.
We need to see proper resourcing. I ask once more will the Minister allocate-----
Go raibh míle maith agat.
-----additional staff to Bord Bia? Regarding his internal Brexit unit-----
Go raibh maith agat, a Theachta.
-----will he also allocate additional staff-----
Tá an t-am thart.
-----to properly reflect the massive challenge-----
-----Brexit poses to our agrifood industry?
The agrifood sector exports 90% of what it produces to 180 different countries around the world. It is not that there are three staff in my Brexit unit; in fact, there are 3,000 staff in my Department who underpin Irish agrifood's offering in the global marketplace. That is the team. It is not a team of three people.
How many of them are in the Brexit unit?
It is a team of more than 3,000 people in the Department, each one of whom is critical.
There are three in the Brexit unit.
Does the Deputy know what any of them do?
Deputy McConalogue's comments are so facetious and shrill. They do him no justice.
It is simply underresourcing-----
Glaoim ar an Aire.
There are more than 3,000 people in my Department.
Get a briefing over there and see what is happening.
May I ask Deputy McConalogue one other simple question-----
This is crazy.
-----just to nail it, if we can, for once and for all? If we had a Brexit Minister, which Council of Ministers would he attend at a European level? He would not be entitled to attend the Agriculture and Fisheries Council with the other Ministers with responsibility for agriculture. He would stand outside the door like a lost sheep. He would be in-----
He could engage bilaterally.
Charlie-----
Tá an t-am thart.
This is the challenge of our times-----
It certainly is.
-----and it requires more serious engagement from the Deputy than this kind of facetious analysis.
The Minister might not like what we are saying-----
We have gone way over time.
Question No. 2 is in the name of Deputy Martin Kenny. I do not have a direction from the Ceann Comhairle as to whether Deputy Ó Caoláin can take it.
It has been so advised.
