Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)

We have had months and months of hand-wringing and vague objections to the agreement in its current form. The fact is that the negotiations are finished, the deal is done and the Government must decide whether it is for it or against it. From an enterprise, tourism and employment perspective, I recognise exactly what is at stake here. Irish agriculture underpins tens of thousands of rural jobs, small businesses, agritourism ventures, transport, food processing and hospitality. When the family farm is undermined, the entire rural economy is undermined. The deal would flood the EU market with 99,000 tonnes of beef and 180,000 tonnes of poultry. Irish farmers are required to meet the highest animal welfare, traceability and environmental standards in the world but now they will be forced to compete with cheaper, substandard imports, produced with hormones and chemicals banned here for decades.

The European Commission's own audit in 2024 confirmed that Brazil cannot guarantee hormone-free beef, yet under Mercosur, exporters can self-certify. This is absolutely reckless. Let us be clear that this is not just an attack on Irish farmers; it is an attack on our climate commitments, on indigenous peoples in South America whose lands are taken for cattle-ranching, and on the global fight against deforestation in the Amazon.

Ministers say that they oppose the deal in its current form but that line is meaningless. The deal on the table is the deal. There is no more negotiating. The only question is whether will vote for it or against it. Farmers know this. The IFA, ICSA and INHFA know this. Every farming organisation in the country is opposed to this. The so-called emergency brake is not worth the paper it is written on. It is temporary, weak, and entirely inadequate to prevent job losses, market distortion or the slow death of the family farm. There is much more I could say but I need to hand over to my colleague. The Minister needs to stop dithering. He needs to reject this agreement publicly and to work with like-minded states to build a blocking minority to this disastrous deal.

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