Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)

I am not specifically talking about the Minister of State. I am talking about the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae. Where is he tonight? He is not here for this debate. Where is his support for rural communities when it comes to Mercosur? Is he just going to roll over and accept it because Europe says so?

In relation to this deal, the numbers speak for themselves. The Mercosur trade deal will allow 99,000 tonnes of beef into the EU annually at a reduced tariff rate of 7.5%. These will not just be low-value cuts. They will be premium steaks and striploin fillets, the very products Irish farmers rely on to fetch to fair prices in European markets. Ireland exports roughly 440,000 tonnes of beef every year, which is worth €2.8 billion. Meat Industry Ireland, MII, estimates that Mercosur could cost our beef industry between €100 million and €130 million annually. This represents a loss of between €75 and €95 per head of cattle. Suckler farmers are already operating on razor-thin margins and will now be pushed to the brink. Family farms will be lost and rural Ireland will suffer. No amount of plámasing from the Healy-Raes or the Ministers will make up for that loss.

I also want to mention that it is very important Sinn Féin has included poultry in this motion because sometimes I think we do not have the debate in relation to poultry and the impact Mercosur will have on poultry producers. They are often sidelined in this debate. They will, however, face immediate and severe exposure under Mercosur. The deal allows 180,000 tonnes of poultry into the EU under a five-year transition period. In one year alone, 30,000 tonnes will enter. This is equivalent to the entire annual Irish chicken breast meat production of 1.2 billion fillets. To put it plainly, a single year of Mercosur imports could wipe out the domestic market for a cornerstone product of our poultry sector. Brazilian poultry is sold at less than half the price of its EU equivalent. That price differential reflects very different input costs, regulatory standards and production practices. In essence, that price differential reflects a significantly lower-quality product. Irish producers cannot compete on price with imports produced under such conditions nor should they have to. The EU already imports 400,000 tonnes of poultry meat annually. Adding Mercosur volumes risks flooding the market with cheap imports and will devastate local producers and seriously undermine our food sovereignty, something becoming more and more important in an increasingly unstable world.

This deal is not just bad for our farmers, however. I will always speak up for the environment when it needs someone in here to speak for it. This deal is bad for the environment and our planet. Mercosur countries, especially Brazil, have been the focus of intense international concern over deforestation, land conversion and weak enforcement of environmental laws. Large areas of the Amazon rain forest have been cleared at alarming rates to make way for cattle ranching and soya production, releasing vast stores of carbon and destroying biodiversity. It is hard to miss the bitter irony of COP 30 being hosted in the heart of the rain forest as it disappears before our very eyes.

The optics are bleak but the reality is much worse. While global leaders meet to discuss climate action, the ecosystems those negotiations rely on are being actively degraded around them. Approving a trade deal that increases market access for commodities linked to that degradation risks locking in supply chains that perpetuate high emissions and environmental harm. Irish farmers are being asked to meet ever stricter sustainability standards, adopt climate-smart practices and absorb the cost of decarbonisation. Meanwhile, imports produced with lower environmental safeguards-----

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