Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

One would be at risk of thinking that this was a trade deal just about beef. The Deputy can suggest there are inconsistencies, with some people saying there are good parts of the deal for Ireland, specifically for the drinks, chemicals and pharmaceuticals industries, and others saying there are less good parts, particularly for the beef and poultry industries. That is not inconsistency; that is stating the obvious. This is an enormous trade deal that has major positives for Ireland but also has a very obvious downside for us. The consistent message from Government - from all of us, regardless of when anyone speaks to us or what we say - is that we welcome the good bits and the positives, and we are going to make sure that we negate the bad bits over the next couple of years, while we take the headline agreement and turn it into a legal agreement. We are going to do that in a number of ways and, in particular, to continue doing what we have done with Commissioner Hogan over the past number of years, which is to try to mitigate against the value of the tonnage that is included in the deal, but also to forge alliances with like-minded member states that equally have suffered a negative impact, particularly in the beef and poultry sectors, to ensure our voices heard and that we mitigate the bad parts of this deal.

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