Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We absolutely did, given the waters that we gave away. I suppose it was always going to come to this, but we are now selling out the farming sector. Beef farmers have been struggling for so many years under the cheap food policy of the EU, as my colleague Senator Marshall mentioned. We have forced farmers into a market where the meat factories, supermarkets and corporations dictate the farming model. Farmers have been forced away from practices that were traditionally organic and environmentally sustainable to an intensive farming model that feeds a corporation-driven food policy. How dare anybody in the European Commission lecture anybody in Ireland about our responsibilities in tackling climate change? What hypocrites they are, given that they enter into commerce with Bolsonaro, knowing what is happening to our rainforest and to the environmental standards that the ranchers who got that guy elected live under. How dare any inspector lecture farmers across this State, when they have put this deal into ink?

As a parliamentarian representing the rural community and others, I join my colleagues on all sides and demand that the Government does what is right. This is about not just the beef sector but consistency. It is about being able to look young people in the eye when the green flags are raised above their schools and about their future. This is a complete sell-out of our beef sector. Our fishing sector was previously sold out and this is a sell-out of those whose hearts are in tackling climate change and in doing what is right by our future.