Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 15 November 2017
Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs
Engagement on the Future of Europe (Resumed): Irish Farmers Association
3:00 pm
Mr. Joe Healy:
To add to what Mr. McDonald said, and this is in the presentation, we as farmers in Ireland and across Europe see the bureaucracy, the red tape, the standards, the traceability that we have to have in order to qualify for various payments, in order to qualify to get our cattle killed and in order to qualify to farm. We do not mind doing that because we have to have that from an exporting nation. We are doing that to satisfy European rules. However, then we see that same European authority willing to do business with a country where the EU food and veterinary office states that the Brazilian competent authority is not in a position to guarantee export requirements are met. That can be very frustrating and it is little wonder that farmers would get frustrated with that sort of a set-up. On a point of clarification, I might have gotten a bit tongue-tied earlier on. I referred to Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry, LULUCF.
No comments