Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am disappointed by the Minister's response. He did not accept the exact same speech when it was read to him by his Fine Gael predecessor when he was in opposition. Last week, we learned that 11,088 sq. km of forest had been destroyed in Brazil between the start of August 2019 and the end of July 2020 to make way for beef ranches. That beef is being produced at a very low cost because of the mechanism Brazil uses and it is being exported to the EU. Substantial quantities of Brazilian beef are already being sold in EU markets. The Mercosur deal will simply allow a further 100,000 tonnes of it to be imported tariff-free. This will be devastating and run counter to every assertion about the environment.

The Minister suggested that there were some benefits to Ireland from the deal. I would love it if he outlined what they were. How could a report of any description tell him that they would outweigh the deal's devastating impact, particularly in the context of Brexit?

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