The Minister’s Diary
Back to routine – whatever that is!
FOLLOWING on from the events of ‘ploughing week’ it was a return to what passes as ‘routine’ in this role over the past seven days.
Last weekend was Food Festival weekend in Macroom and it’s fair to to say that the organisers could give the National Ploughing Association a run for there money in terms of hosting a top class event.
Away from the flavours and aromas of the town, I traveled to Rosscarbery on Sunday to attend the Southern Star, West Cork Farm Awards – a tremendous event which rightfully acknowledges the toil and excellence of some of the county’s, if not the country’s top farmers.
On Monday, I traveled to Dublin to firstly attend the Euragri Conference hosted by Teagasc and afterwards to chair a Dairy Forum in the Department. Notwithstanding the reasonably strong market situation at present, there was much to discuss in terms of preparing the sector for challenges ahead. In the evening, as well as on several other occasions during the week I sat down with my officials to crunch the numbers ahead of Budget 2018. This is a subject I’ll return to in greater detail in a number of weeks.
Cabinet occupied all of Tuesday morning into the early afternoon. I sat in on the lively exchanges in the Dail Chamber during Leader’s questions before returning to the Department for a meeting with the Irish Natura & Hill Farmers Association. The remainder of the evening (and night) was spent in meetings firstly in the Department of Finance and subsequently in the Department of an Taoiseach.
On Wednesday morning the prebudget process continued with a meeting with the leadership of ICSA. The one Budget secret I can reveal here is that there are no shortage of demands. In the afternoon I welcomed the National Inshore Fishermans Federation to the Department for a positive discussion on conservation and other matters of importance to members. Later in the evening it was the drinks industry, represented by the Alcoholic Beverage Federation of Ireland who took the opportunity to bend my ear on a range of issues from the Budget to Foodwise2025.
An early start on Thursday when I attended an interesting breakfast event hosted by representatives from the hospitality, food and tourism sectors. Unfortunately I had to depart proceedings early as I was scheduled to attend the All Island Civic Dialogue on Brexit in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham.
I escaped Dublin in the afternoon to travel to Ballincollig to oversee the launch of the newly refurbished Permanent TSB in the town centre. From one celebration to another, and I was delighted to join in the McEgan College PLC course awards, to acknowledge the achievements of those pursuing further educational opportunities. It was late when I finally made it to Millstreet for the Cork North West Fine Gael Constituency meeting which was in mid flow when I arrived.
On Friday I had the distinct pleasure of officially opening the impressive new extension at Colaiste Treasa, Kanturk. It was a morning of music, song, some speeches and great pride for all involved in seeing the project to fruition.
My final official engagement of the week was no less celebratory, as I traveled north to Charleville, to Kerry Agri-Business who were marking the very noteworthy achievement of reaching the 100% milestone of suppliers being accredited under the Sustainable Dairy Assurance Scheme. The highlight of proceedings was our visit to the farm of the Finn family who rolled out a fantastic welcome for what was a sizeable delegation. Denis and Alison’s farm can only be described as a benchmark for what an SDAS approved farm should be. Their hospitality was of a higher standard again!