Lucinda Creighton: EU confused by Irish ‘scattergun’ Brexit lobbying

Agri-food stakeholders need to co-ordinate their appeals for a European response to Brexit as the EU is confused by the mixed messages coming from Irish lobbying, says Lucinda Creighton.

She told agri-food leaders at a Brexit forum hosted in Kilkenny by the Agricultural Science Association that Ireland urgently needs to decide upon its key Brexit priorities. She said the “scattergun” approach from trade organisations, lobby groups and government will not work in stabilising the economy in the wake of Brexit.

“The feedback I get from Europe is that Ireland is more active than any other country, that we have lobby groups going over from all sectors but they are getting different messages from everybody and they don’t know what Ireland wants and what our endgame is,” said Ms Creighton, a senior strategic advisor with the EU advisory company Vulcan Consulting and a former Fine Gael minister of state.