Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Why on Earth is it taking until next summer for the Minister's Department to finish an impact assessment on such an important deal that will have such a negative impact on our beef sector in particular? It is simply unacceptable and not rational or reasonable for it to take that length of time. The Minister has indicated that significant assessments have been done on this in the past and the Minister's Department has even done an assessment. A significant body of work was done in the European Union cumulative impact assessment, which indicated that the trade deal proposed at that stage would have a significant impact on the price of beef across Europe.

The only reason or rationale for delaying this until next summer is that the Minister does not want the impact of agreeing this Mercosur deal on the beef sector to become any clearer than it is already. As we know, that sector is already under massive pressure and many farmers are not making a profit. Why is there a need for approximately eight more months to finalise the assessment, given that the deal has already been signed for a number of months?

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