Victor Boyhan hails record 19.15bn food exports, urges trade drive

Thank you. Firstly, I would like to welcome Minister Grealish to the Shanna today. I think we go back a hell of a long, long time. I won't tell anyone here, but we know each other for many, many years and soldier together on many things in politics. So today I'm very much looking forward to engaging with you on all aspects of your brief, which will primarily focus, as you said yourself, on food production, new markets, research and development at the Department of Agriculture. I think you have a very formidable team up there. As a member of the Joint Access Committee, I know of the work I've been on the committee for the last five years already, and I know the importance of collaboration and working together with the department officials. We will have our challenges, yes, but I think it's really important that we work together on the team that worked there, and I wish you all very, very well. You have huge experience yourself in agriculture, but also about rural communities, and I think it's really important for someone in such a role that they have that background in rural communities, and also marginalised agricultural land within rural communities, of which you know so well. So I think the Taoiseach's choice in appointing you to your portfolio is timely and it's exceptionally welcome, and I wish you well. Minister, as you know, the agriculture and food sector is actively pursuing transition towards more sustainable and technological advanced food systems, and that, of course, is critical for the development of sustainable food and food practices. This involves embracing smart farming solutions, enhancing food safety standards, and fostering greater collaboration across all aspects of the agricultural sector. You referenced in your statement here today the latest CSO figures, which I think are for 2024, with the Irish food exports now reaching a record value of 19.15 billion. What a fantastic story. What a fantastic achievement. And sometimes we don't celebrate that enough. We don't talk about that enough. So I mean, that's a real standout figure for me here today, that 19.15 billion in 2024 confirmed by the CSO figures. I want to salute all the people involved in that. That isn't an easy task, and it requires huge effort and huge collaboration and huge coordination. Approximately 90% as we know of our beef and sheep meat and dairy products are destined for the international markets. What does that tell us? International markets are critical. Our food attaches, our ambassadors, our councillors, our embassies, our gates that can be opened, opportunities that can be used, and you touched on the attaches there in your speech. And again, I'd like to hear what are our plans for more of that, because trade missions are critical. And we heard last week of the minister coming back from Japan, and I know I spoke on the Fisheries Committee the other day, and the success of that. You yourself were in Cambodia, in Vietnam, I think in March. I think that's really important. So I think we've got to get out and continue to sell. And we can't sit on our laurels, but 90% of our beef, our sheep meat, our dairy products, you know, are destined for the international markets. And I think that has to be to commend it. Dairy remains, of course, as you said yourself, our largest export category, followed by beef, and who doesn't love Irish beef, or for that matter, Irish dairy products. So quality is important. But the thing that's really important as well, and I think you mentioned it, our reputation, our reputation is vitally important if we were to keep the standards. That's what people ask for. It's really unique. Our grass-based production system, traceability, is known the world over, and one that we must pride ourselves in and defend and protect at all costs. There are many people that challenge that, our grass-based system. There are many detractors from that. But that's what the international market wants. That's what they respect. And traceability and integrity around food is vital, and I believe contributes greatly to the success of our agricultural industry. I talked about collaboration, and you touched on Bordbeer. I want to take this opportunity to salute Bordbeer. Anyone who was in bloom will have seen the showcasing of even the artisan food, but local food, small, medium, and large food enterprises. I cannot let this opportunity go but commend our mushrooms. You know, our mushrooms, over 90% of our mushrooms are exported. Our mushrooms are going out into Paris within days of being picked, into London, Sainsbury's, all the stores. Mushroom, Irish mushroom production, and that hasn't been easy. At a time when there were controversial issues around peat, and the challenge around the growing medium for mushrooms, and I think, and I want to commend, not think, Chagas for the enormous work they've done, and the pilot schemes and the research, which we, and Senator Daly has been as well, we've gone up, we've seen in Monaghan mushrooms, we've seen in Ashtown, we've seen in some of the trials run by Chagas, really progressive and ambitious targets to address the challenges around peat, both in the horticultural sector, be it in the soft fruit flowers, horticultural, ornamental sector, but primarily about the mushroom sector, and I want to wish Chagas well in that. You talked about the Department of Agriculture, councillors and attachés, I think, hopefully, if you have time to respond, I'd like you to expand on that in terms of what are your plans, because it's a critical link, it's people on the ground in the countries that matter for us. Minister, you led the trade mission to Vietnam, and clearly we have more work to do, and you have more work to do in terms of opening up the pathways for beef trade, because the challenges, you know, in Cambodia, Vietnam, but also right across Asia, in terms of meat, in terms of pork, they're exciting, and we have to be ambitious, and we have to tap into that, so you might touch on that. At this point, I want to acknowledge Minister Hayden and his work and his trade missions, because as I said earlier, he was in Iceland, and by all accounts, it was a very, very successful trade mission, and we, of course, will have an opportunity, particularly around the fishing sector, which, again, Senator Daley alluded to there, that's an important part of this food and the capacity, and we had IBM in yesterday at the Fisheries Committee, in terms of their strategy and their plan, and the performances for 2024, and they're very, very impressive. So, again, ambition, we need to be more ambitious, or continue to be equally ambitious. You mentioned the USA, comprehensive dialogue with the USA, I fully agree with you. We have to have dialogue and meaningful engagement with anybody who wants to engage and buy our produce, so I wish you well within that. We, of course, have to keep an open door to our closest trading neighbour and our partner, the United Kingdom, because within that, there is vast potential, and yes, there has been setbacks in relation to Brexit, but there are also options. Now, clearly, we are a collective in terms of the European Union and our aspirations and our objectives in terms of agriculture, but also in terms of being members of a collegiate that is negotiating, and we can't be jumping ahead with sort of bilateral arrangements. I mean, we are in a union, so therefore we have to make the case, and there will, of course, be many challenges next year with the presidency for Ireland and it see great openings, but let's keep that relationship open, keep that dialogue open, because I never fail to be impressed when I go to the Kingdom, but particularly in Northern Ireland, the quality and the standard of agriculture and food production is enormous. There are enormous potential for expanding and greater cooperation and greater synergy in the issue of the All-Ireland initiative that I know the Taoiseach is very much behind, but there are opportunities there in terms of developing new markets and greater collaboration and exchange and research exchange and knowledge transfer, and I think we must never close that door. The Irish food and innovation, sustainability and traceability and quality I've talked about earlier, that is critical. Our reputation and our integrity is and supports the reason why people want to buy our produce, and that's something we must always keep to the fore. I want to acknowledge, as I said, Bord Bia's work, I think it's really important. Bord Bia, I'm not too sure if you're very familiar, but Bord Bia have this talent academy, and it equips many of our graduates with the skill sets to drive growth in the Irish food and the drinks. The drinks sector is enormous, and the whiskies, and whisky is now going through a difficult time, but there are many, many new Irish whiskies. It's a phenomenal business, and one particularly pertinent to the American market, and in terms of investment, but I'm conscious of Chinese investment in Irish whisky companies here, and it's a huge growing sector, as well as the horticultural industry, and the horticultural sector. So, Minister, I finish up on this with some really key words that I want you to take on board, not necessarily to touch on here today, but I think these are the challenges as I see them. These are the tasks, these are the asks that are going to be critical to the success of your time in this ministry, and they are innovation, sustainability, origin green, because at the heart of origin green is sustainability, and I want to commend Bord Bia for that. Smart farming, smart farming, really important. Food safety, the Food Vision 2030, we could go on for weeks, but we've got to monitor, you know, Food Vision 2030, we've got to continue to track and monitor, and I know there are systems in place, and you have introduced a dashboard, which I think is a great tool to assist people to track and monitor the success of that. Technological advancements in the sector, national strategies, it's about collaboration and coordination with the national strategies. It's about enterprise, agri-enterprise. We don't use the word enterprise enough when we're talking about agriculture. Agriculture, like anything else, is a business, and there are there are feed-offs and enterprise opportunities there. And again, I want to thank Chagas in terms of their education and their training, and I particularly commend this booklet that's just come in, Chagas, research highlights for 2024. Amazing stuff in there. I finished on these few points, you will be very familiar, I know, because I visited there with you, Galway Bia Innovator. The innovator programs are amazing, and I look forward to in the next few days myself going down to look at the next stage of the development of the Food Hub in Athai in County Kildare. It's exciting. I finish on this. All of this feeds in to successful global markets, but with global markets and taking advantage of global markets requires global leadership. I wish you well. Thank you, Senator.