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

The issue of Brexit is complicated further by the EU's insistence on carrying out trade deals particularly in places such as Latin America and Mercosur. There is an irony in this because great pressure is coming on the production of beef and other meat from a climate change and greenhouse gas perspective, mainly from the European Union, which may fine us for our greenhouse gas emissions. One of the ways it is pushing us to deal with that is by a reduction in the number of cattle and in beef production yet it is talking about doing a trade deal with Latin America to produce beef where there used to be rainforest. It will then be transported half way around the world. Somebody somewhere needs to make the connection and see this does not work from an environmental or trade point of view, and from the point of view of the farmers in Ireland who produce beef - as the Minister and others have acknowledged - in almost the most environment-friendly manner in the world. There are serious issues to be dealt with.

While I acknowledge the Minister's words that as an open economy we need to have trade deals with other countries, we need to also recognise the damage those trade deals can do, if they are handled badly. There will be damage here if we continue to insist on bringing beef from the far side of the world, such as Latin America.

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