The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine will be devoted to Brexit and related issues when it sits tomorrow (Tuesday, December 15).
Four stakeholder organisations will come before the committee tomorrow, in two separate sessions.
The committee will not have one meeting this week, but two. On Thursday, the committee will sit again where TDs and senator will discuss, among other issues, African swine fever (ASF). Again, this meeting will be across two separate sessions.
From 5:00pm tomorrow, representatives from Bord Bia and the Irish Grain and Feed Association (IGFA) – which represents compound feed manufacturers; feed material importers; and grain intake companies – will appear.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, Tipperary Fianna Fáil TD Jackie Cahill – the committee’s chairperson – said: “This will be the second meeting on this topic in a week, and by the time Tuesday’s sessions are complete nine key stakeholder groups will have appeared before the committee.
“As we heard last week, significant challenges and opportunities exist for our food producers, and with much uncertainty regarding the type of Brexit to come after December 31, Tuesday’s meeting will be most timely,” Cahill added.
The meeting on Thursday will hear from the Irish Farmers’ Association’s (IFA’s) National Pig Committee, as well as David Ronan from Tara Pig Farms.
Speaking on Thursday’s meeting, the committee chair said: “ASF is a virulent disease which affects pigs and the pigmeat industry, and the input of [Ronan and the IFA] is most welcome.”