Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his comprehensive replies. I cannot say I am happy with all of them and if I closed my eyes, I might have thought I was listening to the former Minister, Deputy Creed, in a number of areas. I am incredibly disappointed with the Minister's response on Mercosur suggesting we need an assessment to tell us what will happen if we import an additional 100,000 tonnes of beef from South America to the European Union when Brexit is hanging over us. The notion that there could be any equivalence of standards in places where they are literally chopping down rainforests in order to create more room for rearing beef cattle is crazy. There may be an equivalence in the end product but there could be no equivalence in the standards of production.

Senator Lombard's point on the promotion of beef is important but this should take in the promotion of more sustainable production of beef. There has been a problem in this country as all beef production is seen as the same; the beef coming off the hills and fields of rural communities reared by suckler farmers is seen as equal to the beef coming from factory feed lots. It is damaging the reputation of Irish beef. I ask the Minister to stand up for Irish beef but also for natural beef cattle raised on Irish family farms. It is the best product of its type in the world and we do not do enough to promote it because we try to equate it with other beef production methods in this country that are not as sustainable or, quite frankly, not as good a product.