Mr. Philip Kelly:

On competing, it should be recalled that the EU has made no concessions on the standards of food safety. There is no question of hormone or GMO beef being admitted to the European market. The quota that would be conceded to Canada and phased in, as proposed, over six year is for hormone-free, GMO-free beef. As members will be aware, that line of production has different economies of scale and costs than producing with hormones or GMOs. There is no lessening of the food quality or safety standards in the beef that would be admitted to the European market, and that tends towards levelling the costs or any cost disadvantage caused by the size of the Canadian industry and Europe. The corollary is that Irish farmers will have unrestricted access to sell premium beef products into the Canadian market, whereas the Canadians are subjected to a quota in Europe.