Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence, Simon Coveney, has pledged that keeping Irish products on British supermarket shelves is the key priority in Brexit negotiations.

He said he held this view, even if there is no trade deal. Without a trade deal, tariffs are set to add a cost of between €1.3bn and €1.5bn to the cost of Ireland’s €5.4bn annual food and drink exports to Britain.

He recognised that this policy would cost the Irish Government, saying: “Government will, with farm organisations and other stakeholders, decide how we spend money in a way that supports our agrifood sector that supports farm incomes.”

Simon Coveney Ireland holding UK market.

Tariffs

The minister said it would be a huge mistake to try to switch from the UK market, even if Ireland was exposed to tariffs in the event of no trade agreement between the EU and UK.

“We have to find ways of maintaining Irish market share in the UK and, if necessary, we have to support the sector to do that,” he said.

The former Minister for Agriculture is confident that even if there isn’t a deal, at some point one will be negotiated and “at that point we want to make sure we have maintained our market share”.

The minister was speaking at an Irish Farmers Journal webinar, 2020 Vision, in which he gave a wide-ranging review of the current Brexit position and chances of the EU and UK reaching a trade deal.

Northern Ireland

The issue of Northern Ireland (NI) produce was raised with the minister and he confirmed that he wanted to see NI produce getting access to the benefit of EU trade deals.

This would have to be negotiated on a case-by-case basis because after 1 January it won’t be eligible as it is no longer EU origin.

This would have a major impact on a company like Lakeland, which sources 40% of its milk supply in the north.

Referring to movements across the border for pigs, cattle and sheep, the minister made the case that the island of Ireland is a single economy for food and the withdrawal agreement protocol makes Northern Ireland a de facto extension of the EU single market.

Simon Coveney on Northern Ireland.