Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Farmers receive just €3.10 for every €10 paid for beef in supermarkets. Farmers' share has been slashed by one quarter in the past 15 years. Over that period, South American beef has been used as one of the most important tools in undermining the margin paid to Irish suckler farmers. If the Mercosur deal is ratified, the equivalent of 1 million head of cattle a year will be transported up to 11,000 km from South America. Brazilian ranchers clear an area the size of County Cork every year to meet a European market that already produces enough beef to meet demand. It is a bad deal for Irish beef farmers and the climate.

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