Whatever the new trade relationship, if any, between the EU and UK after 1 January, it will be less favourable for Irish farmers and exporters.

It will be of some comfort to Irish farmers that Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney and the Government identify maintaining Ireland’s place in the UK market, irrespective of the Brexit deal outcome, as a priority. He has a clear understanding that this will cost money and while he wouldn’t go into the specifics of how we could make this happen, he did provide a clear signal on what would be required.

He demonstrated appreciation of how it wasn’t practical to develop alternative new markets in the short-term, and recognised the benefit of the UK being one of the highest-value food markets in the world on our doorstep.

What was particularly interesting and relevant for farmers was his view that the “Government will, with farm organisations and other stakeholders, decide how we spend money in a way that supports our agri-food sector and farm incomes”.

This commitment “to find ways of maintaining Irish market share on supermarket shelves,” is an essential signal to give confidence to Irish farmers who are feeding cattle in sheds that will come on to a market in 2021 very different from what it has been for almost three decades.