David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It seems that the Minister, Deputy Creed, has gone full circle since the deal was first announced. He came out strongly against the deal initially, if we were to believe what he said then. Over the course of recent days, however, he has slowly but surely been reined in by the Taoiseach. The Minister has now come in here today to sell this deal and insult the Dáil by telling us that votes in this Parliament are meaningless. Votes in this Parliament are not meaningless because we are asking the Minister to adopt an Irish position, wear the green jersey on this issue and defend Irish interests.

The Taoiseach has been at pains to point out, as the Minister has been trying to do here today as well, that there is no deal yet. We are being told that ten years of negotiations will come to nothing and that this can all be sorted out when it comes to a vote in the European Parliament through qualified majority voting. It was Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil that sold the country out on that issue. We actually had a veto on these trade deals in the past and we could stop them. We cannot stop them anymore, however. That is the fault of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael down through the years.

The Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Humphreys, was very patronising earlier to people in urban areas. She seems to think that they do not understand farming and the importance of farming for rural Ireland and the broader economy. We do understand. My point is that Irish farmers have led the way in traceability, standards, environmental changes, animal welfare and on quality. That is why Irish beef farmers produce the best beef in the world and that is why we do farming very well. What I have heard from the Taoiseach and some of his Ministers in recent times is almost an attempt to equate Brazilian beef with Irish beef. They are trying to pretend that Brazilian beef is not inferior to Irish beef. Irish beef is much superior to South American beef. Everybody knows that. We have built that reputation up over a long number of years but this Government is selling that reputation out as we speak.

What has not been spoken about here much is who are the winners in this deal. We know who the losers are. They are beef and poultry farmers and the pigmeat sector. Irish farming is a loser, rural Ireland is a loser and the Irish economy is a loser. There is no doubt, however, that there are also winners. They are not here in Ireland, however. The winners are in Germany. Fair play to the German Government, which certainly wore the German jersey and made sure that it got the best results for the German people. German car manufacturers are going to do very well out of this deal as they flood the South American market with cheap cars. Can the Minister not see the irony and the brass neck of the Government when it tells people in rural Ireland that they should lessen their dependency on cars to meet climate change targets, which we all do need to do, when at the same time the same Government is signing up to a trade deal that will flood South America with cheap German cars.

What is the cost? It is the selling out of Irish farmers. The European market will be flooded with cheap and inferior South American beef. The Government will also sell out all of the hard work done over many years by Irish farmers. The real winners here are the car manufacturers in Germany and the big corporations. Fine Gael's problem when it comes to farming is that in recent years it has increasingly stood up for the big ranchers and allowed family farms to decline. It is factory lots that are coming into play. When we do farming well in this country, it is on family farms. That is where beef and dairy farmers produce the best quality products. We can see that the move away from family farming in Europe and in South America.

Rainforests in South America are being cut down to make way for these big factory farms. That is who Fine Gael represents. It represents the corporations, the big farmers and the big ranchers and not the ordinary family farmers whom that party is selling down the river with this deal. This deal is mad. It is absolutely mad. When we had a banking crisis in the past, this Minister and his Government, together with Fianna Fáil, asked politicians here to put on the green jersey to bail out the banks. Why does this Government not put on the green jersey now and support Irish farmers? Why does it not put on the green jersey and support rural Ireland? Why does it not put on the green jersey and support the Irish economy and ensure that this deal does not become a reality and decimate farmers across this State?

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