Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 15 July 2021
467. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the steps being taken to ensure that the Northern Ireland Protocol is not used as a means to selectively target Irish food exports to the UK or elsewhere; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38944/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Ireland – Northern Ireland Protocol provides a legally operative solution that avoids a hard border on the island of Ireland, protects the all-island economy and the Good Friday Agreement, and safeguards the integrity of the EU Single Market.
To achieve this, Northern Ireland will continue to apply the European Union’s Customs Code and will remain aligned to all EU legislation listed in Annex 2 of the Protocol, including the SPS rules of the Single Market. As a result, there are no new SPS checks between Ireland and Northern Ireland.
However, goods originating in Northern Ireland are of UK origin from a customs perspective. This means that Irish agri-food products containing inputs from Northern Ireland may not be able to avail of preferential tariff rates provided for in EU Free Trade Agreements with third countries. This specific issue essentially does not arise for exports to countries where no FTA exists, or for Irish food exports to the EU or the UK.
The Commission has been clear that existing FTAs cannot be renegotiated to account for Brexit. Future FTAs could have different rules of origin so as to prevent this issue arising, where strong economic justification can be made.
It’s important to be clear that this is not a case of the Protocol being used to selectively target Irish food exports. This issue would have arisen regardless of whether the Protocol was agreed or not and is a consequence of the UK’s departure from the EU.
