Speaking at the launch of Bord Bia’s Brexit Barometer in Dublin this Wednesday, Minister Creed said his discussions with other EU agriculture ministers have been focusing on “critical players” to secure support for Ireland’s position on Brexit. His strategy has been to “talk to like-minded countries who have an exposure to the UK market and an agriculture and fisheries profile that is somewhat similar to ours and would share a similar outlook”.

“We’re unapologetically asking for the status quo or as close as possible to the status quo,” the minister said.

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He added that European allies would be needed on the “long road” through the formal two-year exit negotiations and the “critical” transitional period to follow. “Some talk about several years or a decade before this matter is finally resolved, I tend to be of that persuasion myself,” he said.

Asked by the Irish Farmers Journal about the specific outcome of his St Patrick’s Day visits to agriculture ministers Christian Schmidt of Germany, Esben Lunde Larsen of Denmark and Martijn Van Dam of the Netherlands, Minister Creed said he was “trying to forge particular alliances” with them around common interests in agriculture and fisheries.

“Initially we wanted to create the awareness of our unique exposure there, and we succeeded in doing that. We also agreed that we would work closer as a group of nations to try and create common areas in the agriculture space,” he said. “We obviously, at 40%, have the highest level of exposure to the UK market, but in value terms, the Dutch have twice the value of our exports to the UK at over €10bn. We have a lot of common ground with a lot of these countries.”

Five times the average EU exposure

Also speaking at the event, former European Parliament president Pat Cox supported this approach, remarking that 17% of Ireland’s GDP depends on the UK, compared with 3.4% for the group of 27 countries remaining in the EU.

“We are more than five times the EU average in terms of vulnerability, which makes us an outlier, which makes the kind of case the minister was talking about earlier - mobilising contacts, mobilising friends and allies - absolutely indispensable,” Cox said.

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