Strong euro could damage export growth in future years

ICSA members from around the country gathered in the Ashling Hotel in Dublin recently for the organisation’s AGM.

At the meeting, ICSA president Gabriel Gilmartin told members that the strength of the euro could hinder Ireland’s export growth in the next few years.

He contrasted the policies of the ECB and the Bank of England on quantitive easing (printing money), which has resulted in the value of the euro going from 69p sterling to 85p in five years.

“For beef, Britain is still our most important export market, accounting for almost half of all beef exports,” he claimed. Mr Gilmartin added that Ireland was also competing with British exports, such as lamb, on the French market.

“My concern is that the recent EU summit has again completely ignored the way in which the ECB policy is keeping the euro high, relative to sterling,” he said.

Mr Gilmartin concluded with a note of caution that the exchange rate was a real issue for Irish exports. “This is not a suggestion that we should leave the euro; rather, it is a call for a review of how the ECB strategy is supportive of a minority of member states at the expense of the majority in the EU.”

At the meeting, Laois ICMSA’s Tim Fitzgerald was comfortably re-elected to the administration committee at the national council. He farms at Ballyroan.