Government holds trade forum amid uncertainty caused by Middle East war

By Gráinne Ní Aodha, Press Association

The Government has held a trade forum amid economic disruption caused by the US and Israeli war on Iran and recent fuel blockades in Ireland.

The 12th meeting of the Government’s Trade Forum, chaired by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Helen McEntee, focused on the economic impacts of the situation in the Gulf region, EU-US relations and the impact of recent blockades.

There was a “strong emphasis” from the Government that they would only engage with established representative groups and that the trade forum would be a central part of this.

Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers gave an update on plans to speed up infrastructure delivery, while Tánaiste Simon Harris gave an update on the spring economic forecast which said inflation remains a concern.

Speaking ahead of the forum, McEntee said it was important to get feedback from those representing small and medium enterprises as well as workers during the “challenging, difficult landscape that we’re living in”.

Chambers said there had been “really strong progress across infrastructure delivery” and said there was “momentum” in the infrastructure cycle.

Speaking about a levy on departments to pay for overspends in other departments, he said it was “really important that we moderate overall current expenditure”.

“If we were to continue doing what’s been happening over the last number of years, expenditure growth would continue to exceed what we budgeted for, and that’s why there has to be burden sharing across government when a new priority emerges or a new pressure emerges,” he said.

“It’s a standard fiscal lever across any jurisdictions in the world.

“Just because we’re running a budgetary surplus doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t have enhanced fiscal discipline.”

Agriculture Minister Martin Heydon told the forum about the supports for the agrifood sector as part of the €505 million package, benefitting farmers, fishers, foresters and farm contractors.

Speaking before the forum, he said the value of Irish agrifood exports is worth over €20 billion to the Irish economy, and said 2.6 million blocks of Kerrygold butter are sold from US shelves every week.

“That is brand Ireland on a shelf.

“That is the work our farmers do, that drives economic activity back into our rural communities,” he said.

“I’m just back from America for St Patrick’s Day, where there was a key trade element to that visit, where Bord Bia and Irish food companies and drinks distributors to see the really prominent position of Irish produce across the US and beyond.”

Asked about comments made by former taoiseach and ex-Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar, who said urban Ireland should tell rural Ireland “we’re the ones paying all the bills and you’re the ones in receipt of a lot of subsidies”, Heydon said he had been “very clear, Leo’s comments were wrong”.

Heydon said of his former party leader: “Beside the part of whether he should be commenting or not, the fact of the matter is, it was a very blunt description that only people in urban areas are making contributions to our tax base.

“That’s blatantly not true.

“Our farmers, through the multiplier effect, have a disproportionately positive effect on our economic activity in our rural areas, and that’s really important.”