Agri-Food must be a top priority for the Irish Government in the forthcoming negotiations, Food Drink Ireland (FDI), the trade group representing the food and drink sector in the Republic of Ireland has stated.
“The agri-food sector exports €4.1 billion [worth] of food and drink to the UK and accounts for 43,000 Irish jobs, " explained Paul Kelly, Director of FDI, which may be threatened by Brexit.
FDI also suggests that agri-food is the sector most exposed to trade disruption and they urge the Irish Government to do everything within its control to ensure the minimum impact to the free flow of goods.
Issues For Negotiation
As far as FDI is concerned, discussions on the future EU-UK relationship must be commenced early in the negotiating process and must ensure:
- free and unfettered access to the UK market for Irish business
- an agreement that takes account of the special case of the all-island economy, ensuring that the highly integrated supply chains can continue to operate with free movement of goods and services
- transitional arrangements, of sufficient length, for businesses to plan and prepare for any new free trade agreement
- customs procedures are dealt with as part of the first phase of Article 50 negotiations.
FDI Director, Paul Kelly, concluded by stating that the Irish Business and Employer's Federation (Ibec) and FDI will "continue advising our members to examine how Brexit might impact their business and we are providing contingency planning support”.
More Brexit stories here: Britain Heads Into The Unknown, and Complexities That May Sink Brexit
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Gavin Ryan. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
