Natasha Newsome Drennan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I absolutely agree. With any of our food, such as the beef sector and imports under Mercosur, which let us face it they are just trying to plough through, we cannot compete. People will go into shops and pick up the cheapest item because they have to feed their families. That is just how life has gone. Our beef will be beside other beef and will be swallowed up by the market purely because people cannot afford to buy Irish beef. That is why we need the Government to step in and we need proper supports for all sectors of farming, not only tillage. We need to be feeding our children the best beef because we have the best land and equally feeding our animals grain grown on our land. I have horses at home. We produce the best bone in horses purely because of our ground and that is why we are the best, or at least well up there. I would rather buy an Irish product. It is the same with feeding cattle or horses. However, when we do not know what is in the bag of feed or in the whiskey, we do not know. Where it has come from needs to be written on the label.