Smith gave the go-ahead for genetically modified organism (GMO) foods to enter Ireland. He told the media that Ireland had "altered its voting position" and would back proposals from the European Commission "aimed at authorising the placing on the market of food, food ingredients and feed containing, consisting of, or produced from genetically modified maize and cotton". Smith also said that Ireland would now tolerate "the low-level presence of, as yet, unauthorised GMO varieties in imports of animal food". He was one of just 19 Fianna Fáil TDs re-elected to the 31st Dáil, following the 2011 general election. He was initially appointed as the Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Education and Skills, serving from April 2011 to July 2012. In 2012, he was made party Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and Trade, as well as Border Region Development. He held this position until the 2016 general election. Political career since 2016 He was re-elected to the Dáil for Cavan Monaghan constituency at the 2016 general election along with party colleague Niamh Smyth TD. In May 2016, he was appointed as Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade. The previous month he was appointed Chairman of the Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party. In January 2019, he announced he was seeking the Fianna Fáil nomination to contest the 2019 European elections for the Midlands North West constituency. He secured the nomination at a convention of Fianna Fáil party delegates in Longford in March 2019, but did not win a seat in the subsequent election. After the election Smith told a local radio station that the Fianna Fáil party had made a mistake in running two candidates rather than one, he also confirmed that he planned to run for the Dáil at the next election. At the 2020 general election, he again won re-election to the Dáil. References External links Brendan Smith's page on the Fianna Fáil website 1956 births Living people Alumni of University College Dublin Fianna Fáil TDs Members of the 27th Dáil Members of the 28th Dáil Members of the 29th Dáil Members of the 30th Dáil Members of the 31st Dáil Members of the 32nd Dáil Members of the 33rd Dáil Ministers for Agriculture (Ireland) Ministers for Justice (Ireland) Ministers of State of the 29th Dáil Ministers of State of the 30th Dáil Politicians from County Cavan