Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 20 April 2023
338. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the value and volume of food and food product imports into this country in the past three years; the degree of fluctuation, if any; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18888/23]
View answerThe Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine conducts checks on food products of animal origin and certain categories of foods of non-animal origin, imported into Ireland from non-EU countries.
These checks are carried out at dedicated facilities called border control posts. There are four designated border control posts in Ireland; Dublin Airport, Dublin Port, Rosslare Port and Shannon Airport. The attached table details the volumes of food imports checked by my Department between 2020 and 2022.
|
Year |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
|
Food of animal origin |
8,590,875 |
152,442,884 |
170,870,900 |
|
Food of non-animal origin |
397,096 |
352,346 |
958,502 |
|
Total (kg) |
8,987,971 |
152,795,230 |
171,829,402 |
The Environmental Health Service is responsible for checks on food products of non-animal origin that do not fall under the responsibility of my Department.
My Department has no information on the monetary value of these imports.
It should also be noted that the Central Statistic offices publishes regular reports on overall volume of trade into and out of Ireland, including comprehensive information as regards both volumes and value of food imports.
