We must take steps to protect food industry

In the midst of considerable chaos, fear and uncertainty over the past six years, one industry has stood out like a beacon of light for the economy — agri-food.

Last year exports of food and beverages hit a record level of almost €10bn, equivalent to just over 11.4% of total merchandise exports. It accounts for 7.1% of gross value added in the economy and 8.6% of total employment.

The great thing about the industry is that as well as making an immense contribution to the national economy, it has a broad regional spread and is the lifeblood of rural economies. A journey on many rural roads at the moment will testify to the neglect of central and local government. In the area of rural Waterford from which I hail, telephone services were recently down for almost two weeks — could you imagine the calls in to Joe Duffy’s show if a similar thing happened in Dublin or some other urban area?