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Assistant secretary general at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) Brendan Gleeson said that Ireland is uniquely exposed to Brexit and, within this, the agri-food sector is particularly exposed.
DAFM has developed a specific Brexit unit and Brendan told delegates at the event that despite growing access to new markets, it will be impossible to substitute overseas markets for the UK market.
He says that timing, and the eventual exit route that the UK takes, will be the key factors in limiting Ireland’s exposure and coping with the violent adjustments in currency that are taking place.
He says that DAFM is aware of the potential impact and is doing all within its power to ensure farmers have access to as many alternate markets as possible.
“It is a very technical process to get access to new markets. Of those we don’t have access to, it tends to be for historical reasons, such as the long-lingering impact of BSE, for example.”
The opening of the Iranian market was highlighted as providing significant potential, giving access to one of the largest consumer bases in the world.
This brings to 13 the number of third-country markets Irish sheepmeat has access to, with progress also made in gaining access to Algeria and Morocco.
High on the agenda for DAFM is gaining access for sheepmeat to the US. Brendan said: “The next step requires the lifting of the TSE (Scrapie-related) ban. Ireland has its documentation completed and we are waiting on movement from the USDA. There is some recent political instability but we hope to make significant progress in 2017.”
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