Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I understand the negotiations are at a very early stage but the Minister will appreciate people's concerns when they hear about it. There is an irony in all of this because as an exporting country we are trying to export our beef and dairy products to every corner of the world yet we have this belief that anything that comes near us is a problem. We will have to have a conversation at some stage as to where that will work out. The difficulty people had with Mercosur was that the 70,000 tonnes of beef that was supposed to come in are the prime cuts, but that is also where we market our product. That is the problem we have with it.

In regard to Australia, the lamb and sheep sector is the one about which we would have the most concern. Following our previous conversations, they are the farmers who are under the most pressure from a primary producer's point of view. There are concerns that if there were a free trade deal with Australia or New Zealand, it would end up having a very negative impact on our sheep farmers who would not be able to sustain that.

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