An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business Seanad Éireann — 2026-03-18 ============================================================ Victor Boyhan (IND), Agricultural Panel I welcome the ambassador and Marie Barry, a great colleague and friend of mine in former years It is great to see her here. I did not recognise her. It is particularly great to see her and all our guests, including those from Dublin College Sallynoggin. Previous speakers have spoken about Saint Patrick's Day and what a great festival and great celebration of our culture, our heritage and indeed our enterprise it is. I and other colleagues were over at a showcase in Tesco Ireland for artisan food, meat and other products in the UK. Tesco Ireland was principally involved organising this in conjunction with Bord Bia. It was a very proud moment for those of us who attended. We met ten suppliers who had been chosen to exhibit in a showcase in the UK: Golden Bake; Flahavan's; Ornua; Portumna Pastry; Killowen yoghurts and dairy produce; Keohane Seafoods; Coole Swan liqueur; Silver Pail ice cream; Folláin jams, with which we are familiar; and of course ABP Meats. All of those who attended the showcase were there to look at and test the food and to see how Tesco is promoting Irish produce. It is a proud day for Ireland that the market has been expanded with the help and assistance of Tesco. I give a shout-out to Tesco and to Bord Bia for opening the door for small enterprises that will now be selling their wares on shelves right across the United Kingdom. That is some achievement, and with it comes more investment, more upskilling and more money for their plants, etc. Rising the market brings many challenges. I would like at some point to have the Minister of State, Deputy Grealish, in to talk about the Irish food sector and the potential, particularly in the UK. I would also like to single out and thank our excellent Irish ambassador, Martin Fraser. We met him during the trip. He is a wonderful ambassador. He is not going to be staying much longer with us. He is going to other fields in the same service. I thank him for an amazing job in assisting us and supporting the expansion of all things cultural and in enterprise, particularly in the UK market. I also acknowledge the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan. Many other Irish people gathered in Westminster for the annual St. Patrick's Day celebrations there. We were so warmly welcomed and received. We can talk about the Taoiseach in America, but I think it is unbelievable that despite Brexit and everything else we continue to have amazing commercial ties and connections in the UK, our closest neighbour. I have a sense that they are even stronger than they were two or three years ago. The potential for economic development between our two countries is critically important. We have a long history in terms of our diaspora going to the UK but I believe there is further room for growth. I went away feeling inspired about enterprise. I refer not only to the partnership with Tesco, but also to other potential food development. I thank our ambassador for the enormous work he is doing on the ground in London. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-03-18/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:44+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-03-18