merrion street

Minister for Agriculture Food and Marine, Michael Creed TD this morning concluded a two day series of high level political meetings on Brexit with a discussion with Danish Minister for Agriculture & Food, Mr. Esben Lunde Larsen, in Copenhagen.  The engagement follows on from meetings yesterday (Thursday) in Berlin and The Hague with the German and Dutch Agriculture Ministers respectively, where Minister Creed outlined Ireland's priorities in terms of the forthcoming Brexit process.

Speaking after the meeting Minister Creed said;

“it is reassuring to find substantial common ground amongst other E.U. member states, specifically in terms of their concerns about the potential trade implications for the Agri-Food and Fisheries sectors.  Like Ireland, Denmark is a significant net exporter to the U.K. with a trade surplus in Agri-food of over €1 billion.  Minister Lunde Larsen shared my determination to see this trade protected as far as is possible in the context of future trade negotiations.”

Addressing his efforts to build a common platform on the issue of fisheries, Minister Creed commented;

“I am encouraged by the consensus amongst colleagues who are heavily dependent on access to the U.K 200 mile zone to proceed in a cohesive manner on this important matter.  The Danes land approximately one third of their fishing effort in volume terms from these waters and are equally as determined as we are to ensure that this important issue is not dealt with in isolation.  There is now significant momentum behind this multilateral approach to informing the negotiating position of the Barnier team on fisheries.”

Concluding on his series of meetings over the past two days Minister Creed said;

“today's discussion with my colleague ,Minister Lunde Larsen , is my sixth such meeting with individual E.U. Agriculture & Fisheries Ministers in the past fortnight.  This is part of an important process I'm undertaking to raise awareness of Ireland's exposure from an Agri-food and Fisheries perspective from the U.K’s decision to exit the E.U. and to build alliances in terms of shaping the E.U’s negotiating position as we move into the early phases of the exit process.”