Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Tá áthas orm labhairt ar an rún seo ar maidin. Tá sé an-soiléir go bhfuil na feirmeoirí faoi fhód. Tá siad faoi fhód ag an gComhaontas Glas, Fianna Fáil agus Fine Gael. Ba chóir d'Fhianna Fáil agus Fine Gael seasamh suas do na feirmeoirí agus tacaíocht a thabhairt dóibh chun iad a chosaint agus chun an eacnamaíocht áitiúil agus náisiúnta a chosaint chomh maith.

There are many sectors that experience occasional instability and fluctuations around pricing and controls but most of the time, those sectors settle back down to long periods of calm and relative certainty. None of that can be said, however, with respect to the Irish agriculture sector over the better part of the last decade. In fact, the only certainty it has had is the presence of uncertainty. There was Brexit, with all the destabilisation that brought to the Irish export market. Then there was the Mercosur deal, which still threatens the importation of 99,000 tonnes of South American beef, which is inferior in quality and which will never match or surpass the standards of our Irish beef. Why are Irish livelihoods being threatened? Why are the livelihoods of Irish farmers being threatened? Why has this deal not been kicked to touch once and for all? The Minister can call for sustainability guarantees from Brazil all he likes but how will those so-called guarantees protect the Irish farmer?

The Minister recently confirmed CSO trade data on beef imports, which show that 14,000 tonnes of beef were imported into the country between January and March of this year. This comes on the back of 54,000 tonnes of beef imports in 2022, according to data previously reported by agriland.ie. That is 70,000 tonnes of beef coming into the State. That may not be such a terrible thing in terms of open international trade, which we benefit from, if not for the fact that this Government is all the time sending out the message that we need to reduce our meat consumption, change how we eat, eat more plants and less meat, more insects and less animal-based protein. For the Green Party in particular, it is a case of grasshoppers before grass-based beef. It would be a joke if it were not so serious.

The almost subliminal messaging on these issues from lobby groups is unmistakably clear. I have been calling for a definitive commitment from the Government that it will not impose any mandatory cuts to the national herd as part of its efforts to reduce agri-based emissions since 2021, when the Mercosur deal emerged as the major threat.

After that, it emerged that Brazil's exporters predicted an estimated increase in the country's national livestock numbers of 24 million cows, and here we are contemplating a reduction of anything up to 200,000, which, in relative terms compared to Brazil, is likely to be far more damaging.

It is time for the equivocation and ambivalence to end. We need a definitive commitment from Government that it will protect the economic interests of Irish farmers. We cannot and should not allow a situation to develop whereby the strongest sectors in Irish agriculture are effectively sacrificed for what amounts to a minuscule and irrelevant contribution to the global reduction in emission numbers.

Indeed, there is now a very real chance that this Government is going to make Irish farming the laughing stock of Europe and beyond because of the imposition of an absurd economically self-destructive policy that has no chance whatsoever of making kind of difference for which farmers are being pursued. The rationale is reckless and shaky. It does not make sense. We have already seen the negative prospects for beef farmers outlined in the Government's own independent assessment of the economic, social, environmental and human rights impacts of the EU-Mercosur trade agreement.

Irish farming is the best in the world. We deliver premium products that are in great demand combined with a farming community who are excellent stewards of the environment and protectors of the land. They need to be protected and not dictated to.

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