Donna McGettigan (Clare, Sinn Fein)

Mercosur will allow the cheap importation of beef, poultry, pork, sugar and biofuels produced to lower standards than ours. Our Food Safety Authority was established after several high-profile outbreaks and deaths from food-borne illnesses, and its commitment since to openness and transparency has helped us as consumers to look for and demand healthier food. Knowing where our food comes from, its production method and its journey to our tables allows us to make decisions on quality, freshness, nutrition and environmental sustainability. More importantly, it allows us to make decisions on supporting local farmers and producers.

This deal is a threat to public health. Mercosur countries do not even tag cattle and they use hormones and antibiotics that are banned here. As a country, we worked hard to reach the high standard. Our farmers worked hard on this. What will all that hard work amount to and where will we stand if we allow cheap imports from Mercosur countries with lower standards? Our family farms are struggling as it is, and this deal will be so bad for farmers and the production of healthier food.

When it comes to deforestation, governments only agreed to trying to prevent deforestation six years from now. Six years will bring us to the end of 2031, yet at the COP26 climate change summit our Taoiseach, along with more than 100 governments, signed a pledge promising to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030. Where does that pledge lie now? Is this going to be another broken promise? Are the lungs of our world going to continue to be decimated? How much more stored carbon is going to be released? Experts say we are at a tipping point, a point of no return.

On top of all that, this agreement would allow Mercosur countries to sue if the EU deforestation regulation or any future environmental or social legislation affected their exports to the EU. How anyone can believe this deal will be good for farmers, our country’s health and our climate is beyond me.

See this speech in context