The latest Food Wise 2025 meeting saw the key topics of Brexit and the meat sector debated, with Minister of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, taking the rains.
This was the 18th meeting of the Food Wise 2025 High Level Implementation Committee (HLIC), and it was devoted to the UK’s withdrawal from the EU – which is a standing item on the agenda – and the Food Wise Meat Implementation Report.
On Brexit, the minister said that the meeting, and the Food Wise 2025 programme in general, serves as a “vehicle” to make sure that state bodies are ready for the UK’s European exit.
“The co-ordination mechanisms around the Food Wise 2025 process provides a vehicle for ensuring that all of the relevant state agencies are aligned in terms of preparedness for Brexit,” said Minister Creed.
My Department is playing its part in these Government Brexit preparations and will continue to engage with stakeholders and citizens through the ‘Getting Ireland Ready for Brexit’ initiative, and through its own consultative committees.
The committee also discussed the Meat Implementation Group report on future development of the Irish meat sector.
The report was compiled after talks between the department and stakeholders across the various meat industries – meetings the minister called “heartening”.
“It is really heartening to see a group like this, comprising stakeholders across the meat sectors and in different tiers of the supply chain, collaborating to produce a very useful report that can provide valuable input in the effort to deliver on the ambition of Food Wise 2025,” declared Minister Creed.