Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

My efforts are entirely focused on ensuring that the ultimate deal protects our interests. To concentrate on the €1 billion is, in a way, to throw in the towel and I am not at that stage at all.

I am at pains to point out that we can work to influence the terms and conditions of this scheme. It will undergo the appropriate economic and environmental assessment. We can influence and work with other people. We can work collaboratively in this House and we can work with people outside this House and across the European Union to influence and shape the terms and conditions of the final legal document that will be put before the Council of Trade Ministers, the European Parliament and national parliaments in due course. That job of work needs to be done. We have none of that detail now.

I made reference, in reply to Deputy McConalogue, to carcass weight equivalent. The only segmentation we have in that context is the breakdown between fresh and frozen goods. There is an opportunity to ensure that we influence that in a way that is positive for us.

There is a whole host of other things we can do as to the terms and conditions outlined in the agreement on, for example, environmental standards, traceability, sanitary and phytosanitary standards, SPS. We can do that and that is where the focus is now. This is not about being bought off. That is the least of my concerns at this stage.

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