merrion street

Shane McEntee, TD, Minister of State at the Department for Agriculture, Food and the Marine today spoke at the Mid West Branch of the Irish Planning Institute at the Clarion Hotel, Limerick City.

Minister McEntee thanked the Branch for inviting him to speak at the event and went on say that “Ireland’s agri-food sector has done extremely well in the past two years. In fact, the sector saw a 25% increase in agri-food exports between 2010 and 2012, with Bord Bia recording a figure of €8.8bn in exports for 2011. But we are still in a global recession and there are challenges facing the sector”. In relation to managing this challenge, the Minister of State commented, “Ireland is recognised as a global trading nation particularly for beef, dairy products, infant formula and food exports. So, our task for future development is to capitalise on and enhance our undoubted strengths as a food producing and exporting country. We must continue our drive to improve quality and to find new customers”.

The Minister of State added that “our policy must be coherent with our overall strategy for smart, green growth. Our objective should be sustainable intensification, that is to say, a policy that supports all three objectives of preserving food production potential in the EU, sustainable management of natural resources and maintaining viable rural areas”.