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

The Minister said that the Mercosur countries must meet criteria similar to those farmers in Europe must meet. She comes from a farming community. We are all aware that traceability is paramount. When the animal is born, he or she is tagged for life. This has not been the case in Mercosur countries up to now but we are expecting that this will change overnight. If it does, how will it be inspected? How will we be sure that this will be the case? What guarantee is there that this will happen?

With regard to the management of disease, which is a serious issue, there are ranchers with tens of thousands of cattle roaming freely. In Ireland, most farmers know their cattle almost by walking up and petting them. The situation here is entirely different. How will disease be managed and how will we know it is managed? It is legal to use growth hormones in Mercosur countries. I understand that they will not be allowed under this agreement. How will we know they are not being allowed if cattle are not tagged or traced? If nobody can have access to them to know where they are, how will we know that growth hormones are not being used? By virtue of the scale at which they farm, disease control in Mercosur countries involves mass disease prevention where medicines are put into the food animals eat and all animals are medicated at once. It will be impossible to monitor any of these farms at this distance. Frankly, it is absurd to expect farmers in Ireland who are aware of the criteria they must meet to satisfy EU regulations to believe that somehow or other, this will happen in Brazil and Argentina. It is outrageous to think this will happen Will inspectors from the EU be in the factories in Brazil and Argentina in the same way they are in Ireland? Will inspectors inspect the farms over there as they do in Ireland and other European countries? How will they be inspected? Are we expected to trust governments, particularly the government in Brazil, which says that it does not believe climate change is a reality, is opposed to the Paris Agreement and has clearly stated that its preference for expanding its beef herd?

Brazil is only interested in stacking them high and selling them cheap and we are buying into this. It flies in the face of everything the European Union and the Council of Ministers have set out in climate change regulations for Irish farmers.

See this speech in context