merrion street

The Minister for Agriculture Food & Marine, Michael Creed TD today (Tuesday) addressed a large gathering at the Houses of Parliament, Westminster associated with ‘CHAMP” an informal group which promotes peace and reconciliation among Parliamentarians within Ireland and Britain. Speaking at the event the Minister said; “we are under no illusions about the complexity of the Brexit negotiations. This is going to be a challenging process and the outcome is far from determined. However, the progress report agreed in December between the EU and the UK was a positive step forward and we hope that that progress can be built upon. Even during these crucial weeks and months, there is more to British-Irish relations than Brexit and we must not lose sight of this.”

Minister Creed also held separate meetings with the CEO’s and Senior Executives of Ocado, the world’s largest exclusively online supermarket and McDonald’s UK & Ireland, where he was joined by representatives from Bord Bia including Tara McCarthy CEO.

“A major priority this week is to continue our ongoing process of engagement with our major UK partners in the food industry. The UK is our most significant export market from an Agri-food perspective and notwithstanding the challenges posed by Brexit we intend to maintain and build our presence in that market. Today’s meetings were useful and reassuring in that the position of Irish suppliers is very much valued by our UK partners.”

Tonight the Minister and the Irish Ambassador to the UK, Adrian O’Neill will address guests from across the political and media spectrum at a reception in the Irish Embassy, London.