Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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Yes. I thank the Chair. Deputy Ó Laoghaire is unfortunately in the Chamber where the flotilla and Gaza are being discussed. He is tied up there, but I hope he will be here shortly.

The Commissioner is welcome. I thank him for his opening statement. The big issue before us this morning is what happened with the flotilla last night. People from every part of Europe were going to Gaza to try to bring humanitarian aid. The huge genocide and crisis we have seen unfold for the past number of months is something the vast majority of Irish people are extremely concerned about and they wish to see more action from Europe in taking Israel to task for what it is doing. That brings me to the big issue of the EU-Israel association agreement. The view I share with all my colleagues from all political parties and none in these Houses is that we want to see Europe take a strong stand against Netanyahu and the Israeli Government and what it is doing. The best way to make that stand is through strong and severe sanctions against Israel and by ensuring that members of the European Union do not sell arms to Israel that are blowing children to bits in Gaza. That needs to end. That message needs to come firmly from here. I wanted to make that statement first. I think I have the agreement of everyone in these Houses about that. Will the Commissioner give us some information about how the European Union intends to proceed to hold Israel to account for what it has done? How does it intend to proceed with regard to those trade agreements? They are the first issues we need to look at.

Moving on to other trade issues, the Commissioner mentioned in his opening statement the issues regarding the United States and the tariffs that are coming and the volatile situation we have in America at the moment. We are concerned about that in Ireland. Ireland is a large trading partner of America. We export a lot of pharmaceuticals. We are a big exporter of food to everywhere in the world and America is one of our trading partners in that sector and we are concerned about what the future holds in respect of ensuring we can maintain that level of exports to the United States.

The Mercosur trade deal is another transatlantic issue. I am a member of the Joint Committee of Agriculture and Food, as are many of my colleagues in this room. The Mercosur trade deal is very concerning for Irish agriculture and farming. We, in Ireland, are very proud of the quality of food that we produce and the high standards that we attain. Many of those standards were set in rules and regulations that came from the European Union. We welcome those standards, are open to them and want to meet them because we want to ensure that European consumers get the highest quality food. They certainly do, where that food comes from this island. However, the Mercosur deal exposes European consumers to food, mainly beef and chicken, that does not meet those standards. The trade agreement stipulates that countries must meet certain standards. How does the European Union intend to ensure that Mercosur countries meet those standards? What mechanism will the EU put in place? Will inspectors inspect the production and processing of foodstuffs in the Mercosur countries? Will there be checks when those foodstuffs reach Europe?

I want to convey the clear message that we are very angry because the European Union is out of step with the vast majority of people in Ireland. This will cause huge mistrust and we do not want to see that happen between the people of Europe and-----