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

The real issue with the Mercosur countries, as both of the Ministers are aware, is that they have a much lower production cost for beef than we do in Ireland or anywhere else in Europe. Standards in South America are much lower, however. That means that beef can be produced at a lower price compared with EU farmers and as a result South American farmers can undercut the market. The market is what all of this is about. There are also consumer protection issues with this deal in respect of the hormones and pharmaceuticals used in the production process in South America that are banned in the EU.

The problem we have is that the model of farming in the South American countries is entirely different from the model of farming that we have in Europe generally and that we certainly have in Ireland. Livestock farming in Ireland is a managed process. Farmers work with their cattle every day and know them. In Argentina and Brazil, beef farming is based on a ranching model where thousands of cattle are spread over a huge area that is probably the size of a county. In Ireland, we are talking about farms with an average size of 30 ha to 80 ha. It is entirely different. That means that cattle in South America are allowed to roam free. There are no tags, no traceability and no disease prevention. The animals there are treated for various diseases, mainly coming from mosquitoes and other things,en massewith pharmaceutical products that would be banned in Europe. South American beef farmers do not have to register or tag their cattle until 90 days before they are ready to be slaughtered and exported.

That gives us the context of farmers in Ireland compared with those in South America. That is the situation that we have to understand. It is clear that the farm organisations in Ireland and most other European countries oppose this deal with Mercosur. It will allow a sharp increase in the production of Brazilian beef and its importation into Europe with preferential tariffs. The reality is that that will throw the EU beef sector over a cliff. This deal is bad for European consumers because Brazil and other South American countries fail to meet EU standards. The key issues involved are traceability, food safety, animal health and environmental controls. Research conducted by the European Commission Joint Research Centre suggested that if imports of beef from Mercosur countries into Europe were to rise dramatically that would drive EU beef prices down by 16% and would cost the EU beef sector as much as €5 billion in revenue.

The potential impact on Irish beef farmers could be a loss of between €500 million and €750 million. The Minster, Deputy Creed, has already stated that this is a very disappointing deal for Irish beef farmers. The deal is coming at a time when 300,000 tonnes of beef exports into Britain annually are under threat because of Brexit. The Minister has also welcomed the deal and said that it removes tariffs of 28% on Irish dairy products going into the Mercosur countries. The reality is that our dairy industry is already at top capacity. It is already doing very well and there are already major export markets available in places such as China. We do not need to export our dairy products into Latin America, even at reduced tariff rates. The Minister is not comparing like with like and that also has to be part of this context.

In a recent interview in The Irish Times, the Minister also stated that the beef agreement was the sweetener in this deal. I know he was putting that aspect into context, but that tells us where we are regarding the Irish beef sector.

The Irish beef sector, which is on its knees, is being used as a sweetener to achieve a deal that will allow cars and pharmaceuticals to be sold to Latin America. The use of these pharmaceuticals would probably not be allowed in Europe. That is the position.

As has been mentioned, one of the biggest impacts this agreement will have is on the environment. The rainforests in Latin America comprise half of the world's remaining rainforest and represent the largest and most biodiverse tract of tropical rainforest in the world. It is under threat as it has never been before. This deal will facilitate the aims of a right-wing Brazilian Government which denies climate change and is in cahoots with Donald Trump. It says that it wants to continuously expand into the rainforest and does not want to conserve the environment or protect the native people who live in those areas in any way. The President of Brazil is on record as saying he wants to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change. This Mercosur deal involves many contradictions.

The Minister stated that EU standards "will not be relaxed in any way" and that "they remain non-negotiable". That position does not stand up to any logical consideration when dealing with Latin America and the current President of Brazil in particular. Nothing we see coming from that country suggests it wants to meet EU standards. In fact, it is saying it wants to move in the other direction by withdrawing from the Paris Agreement and increasing the size of its already expansive cattle herd. It wants to cut down the rainforest to do this and continues to do so apace. In the month of May alone, an area the size of County Leitrim was cut down to make space for cattle ranching. The situation in this regard is absolutely dire.

The Minister also mentioned that the 99,000 tonnes of beef is one third of what had originally been sought, which was 300,000 tonnes. What else would one expect? Parties negotiating a trade agreement always set their targets much higher than what they expect to achieve. I am quite sure the Latin American parties to the agreement were more than happy to get 100,000 tonnes of beef into the European Union.

Another issue which comes into play is the manner in which this trade deal will be ratified. As we know, it will be another two years before it goes through and it must first go to the European Council of Ministers. Will our Minister vote against it? Will the Irish Minister work with ministers from other countries that have expressed doubts about this deal, such as Poland, France and Belgium, to build a bloc large enough to prevent it going through? If it goes to the European Parliament, will Government and Fianna Fáil MEPs vote against it? I assure the Minister that Sinn Féin MEPs will vote against it. Will the Dáil vote on this issue and, if not, why not? Is it because of the Lisbon treaty or the Nice treaty? We need to make that clear.

We need to understand where we are in this regard and make a very firm political choice. Are we going to stand up for the Irish farming community and the environmental lobby around the world or are we going to stand for big business? That is the choice. At this time in the development of global capital, we must state clearly whether we are going to stand with big capital against the environmental lobby and the farming community in Ireland because that is what we are talking about doing. This choice lies with the Government and its Ministers in Europe as well as those political parties which have MEPs. We have to make that choice.

I appeal to the Government to stand firm and to understand that, if the future is to be worth anything for the generations to come, any trade deal must be measured against the 17 sustainable development goals. People all over the world are talking about climate change while we are talking about allowing a trade deal that flies in the face of the sustainable development goals to which this Government and all governments around the world have signed up. This particular trade deal flies in the face of more than half of those goals.

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