The Fianna Fáil TD said he is “appalled” by the lack of contingency planning that has been undertaken by Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed to safeguard farmers and the Irish agri-food sector from a hard Brexit. McConalogue made his remarks on the back of information which he has received through parliamentary question replies.

One reply shows that Bord Bia has only hired four additional staff in 2017. “This is appalling when you consider the enormous challenges facing the Irish agri-food sector in the months ahead,” McConalogue said. “It shows that the Government simply isn’t putting in place the resources needed to deal with Brexit.”

He said Bord Bia has a challenging task to broaden Ireland’s exports beyond the UK. "The stage agency needs to be adequately resourced to achieve this," he said.

Another reply shows that the Department of Agriculture has assigned just three staff members to a dedicated unit to deal with Brexit-related issues. The minister said his department will "continuously assess resources required in this unit as the Brexit process progresses".

McConalogue said this news is "underwhelming when you consider the newly established UK Department for Exiting the European Union already employs 335 officials and is growing all the time. Ireland will be competing with the UK for export business contracts for our agri-food sector."

Brexit Consultative Committee

In a reply to McConalogue on another matter, the minister said the Brexit Consultative Committee, established by him to facilitate an exchange of views between his department and sector stakeholders as the Brexit process unfolds, has only met twice since having its first meeting last July.

Creed needs to seriously reevaluate his approach to dealing with Brexit

Creed also stressed, however, that both he and his officials engage "on both a formal and informal basis with stakeholders, with EU Commission officials and member state counterparts on a regular basis on Brexit-related issues. Consultation with stakeholders has continued in the context of the All-Island Civic Dialogue, in respect of which an opening plenary took place in early November 2016 in Dublin and a further plenary took place on 17 February."

Concluding on this, McConalogue said Creed "needs to seriously re-evaluate his approach to dealing with Brexit. This is a unique challenge for the agri-food sector and his thinking needs to reflect this."

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