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

The Deputy is calling for an Irish market for Irish beef. I would love for that to be the case while, at the same time, selling our beef everywhere else without any consequences. We need to be the most vigilant about renationalisation because we are very dependent on exports.

This issue is not something that I welcome but I am certainly not going to jump on a populist bandwagon because our primary interest is in making sure the European market works for us and we have access to those markets. If there were only an Irish market for Irish beef, we could have beef for breakfast, dinner and supper and we would still not eat all the beef we have. We need to make sure that we maintain access to markets in the UK, France and every other market within the European Union. That is the most important thing for the beef farmers we represent.

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