117. Deputy John Clendennen asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the details of the number and type of trade promotion events he has participated in since his appointment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25107/25]

Sentiment score: 0.03

I thank the Minister. I met with agriculture students and teachers at Laois and Offaly Education and Training Board, LOETB, at the Intro to Ag initiative in recent days. I have also met with producers and farmers. It is clear that they are extremely proud of the high regard for Irish produce across the world. However, there is also a level of innovation today within this sector is best in class. It is important that we ensure it remains best in class. Our success in this sector did not come about by accident. It came about through strategic planning, investment and branding, marketing and promotion. We need to reassure the sector that that will continue long into the future. I recognise the work of Bord Bia in what it has done to make that materialise over a number of years. I see three strands on which we need to focus. Promoting Irish produce overseas is certainly one of them. We need to see how we can further assist food producers. We also need to encourage Irish supermarkets to stock more Irish produce where possible.

Sentiment score: 0.31

While other speakers made reference to the threat of TB, there is also the threat of trade tariffs. We need to remove the barriers in our control, one example of which is alcohol labelling. We need to look at growing our existing markets as well. France and Germany have similar populations, yet we export three times the produce to Germany that we do to France. I have to question why that is the case. What are the barriers or challenges to achieving the same penetration in the French market as in Germany? As the Minister said, there is a huge opportunity in Canada, India and the Far East and we have to look at materialising that further. I mentioned supermarkets. A register should be introduced to determine the percentage of Irish produce, European produce and rest of world produce on our shelves so that we are ensuring full transparency for Irish produce on supermarket shelves.

Sentiment score: 0.07