Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

We warned about it and protesters took to the streets all over the world. The big mobilisations in Genoa, Florence and Seattle were all about this. At the time, small farmers and indigenous peoples from Latin America were on those protests. Farmers from France, such as José Bové, were warning that this would screw the small farmer and here we are. That is the consequence of it.

I would like some clarity on beef. The figure of 99,000 tonnes of beef is mentioned. People should be clear that at the moment 246,000 tonnes of beef come into Europe from the Mercosur countries. Is this 99,000 tonnes on top of that? The Commission documents on the Mercosur deal state that progressively over time tariffs on all Mercosur imports into the European Union will be eliminated. That is the deal. We sell out the farmers and many other things that I will come to in a minute to remove tariffs on manufactured goods, mostly cars and pharmaceuticals, but in exchange we have to remove tariffs from all that beef over time. It is not just 99,000 tonnes, but all of it, further flooding the European market which is significantly flooded with cheap beef from the Mercosur countries, with devastating consequences for small farmers across Europe. Is that not the essence of the agreement that the Government has in principle, notwithstanding a bit of tweaking, signed up to?

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