Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is dead right. I have no simplistic solutions. I met farmers the other day and they told me the usual stories but I could have told them the same stories about shopkeepers who lost everything. Those people provide jobs in rural Ireland as well. I get angry with the notion that the Minister just has to go over there and shake his little green bag. It will be a very difficult negotiation. We are prepared to play a role but we will not put in money unless everybody else puts money in. If we go up to 1.3%, everyone else has to go up to 1.3%. There is a big gap but I identified this, in the Dáil in April 2017, as the biggest issue. Farm leaders have to get realistic too and recognise that it will be a huge task and not easy to achieve.

I want more subsidiarity in the CAP but I am sure other countries will be looking for something in return for their consumers. When the ordinary person sees somebody getting €100,000 or €120,000 without employing a person, even for one sixth of a job, they expect a return for that money. The case has to be made to consumers too because it is taxpayers' money and it does not grow on trees. We can all come in here with a shopping list but we must be realistic. I have always supported the CAP in my 27 years here but my view was always laced with reality. It will be a big job to pull all the other countries on board and we will have to use our powers of persuasion. This is an important national issue so we must throw our full weight behind it.

We have already gone through Brexit with the Minister and it is a big story here. There are many issues, whether they relate to the North-South dimension or the east-west dimension, and it is very important that the EU and the UK hammer out an agreement. There is a danger that, if we fail to get a trade agreement, the UK will go off to New Zealand, Australia, Argentina and elsewhere. Phytosanitary, sanitary and other health standards are also important and they will take a lot of time. I do not care if I do not see the Minister in the Dáil for the next nine months as long as he is out there fighting for an agreement as that is the most important thing.

Mercosur sends shivers down the spines of people from Westmeath, including Senator Paul Daly and me, and it does the same to people from Longford and other midland counties which are highly dependent on the beef industry. There has to be give and take but if we wipe out the beef industry it will have serious repercussions. We have heard about the drop in the numbers of suckler cows, which is an unrelated issue, but that will be like a walk in the park as compared to what could happen to our beef industry. The Mercosur agreement will take a lot of work and, as Deputy Kenny said, it is the prime cuts that will be hammered.

In the Mercosur negotiations on beef imports, our focus needs to be on the costs of importing from South America and the issue of regulatory compliance, in particular the record of the South Americans in this regard. I laugh when I hear talk of the effect of air miles on the environment but we focus on environmental sustainability, while beef from South America will have to transported over thousands of miles, which is a contradiction of our approach to carbonisation. I read that deforestation had taken place in Argentina to make space for the industry there and this contradicts our approach. If an Irish farmer did something like that he would be penalised but we are talking about getting an agreement to allow it in this case. There will be trade-offs and we are certainly open to trade but the Minister should fight this with all his might.

Bord Bia is hiring 27 or 28 new people to deal with Brexit and that is good news. Where does the Minister think alternative markets can be secured? Whatever happens, there will be a bit of a damper and some negativity. What efforts have been made to compensate for a downturn as a result of Brexit?