Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Senator Dee Ryan.

It would be remiss of me not to be associated with the remarks of Senator Andrews and to acknowledge the passing of the legend that was Mick O'Dwyer. From a Westmeath point of view, we will always remember the early 2000s and 2004 in particular, when we won our one and only Leinster Senior Football Championship, with the great Páidí Ó Sé in the Westmeath dugout and Mick O'Dwyer in the Laois dugout on both the day of the drawn game and the replay. Unfortunately, they have both passed now. Go ndéana Dia trócaire ar a n-anamacha uaisle.

I thank the Minister of State and the Tánaiste. It has to be acknowledged that we are a mere 12 hours since the press conference in the Rose Garden and we have had the Tánaiste and the Minister of State here to be able to discuss these issues. That has to be acknowledged and thanked because I know how busy a schedule they have.

I will be brief and it will not surprise the Minister of State that I will concentrate on the agricultural side of things and how developments may or may not affect the agriculture sector going forward. I know the great role the Minister of State plays in Europe and how passionate he is about that role. Europe has a big role to play in the Mercosur deal now. Under the current circumstances it has come back into the spotlight. We export a lot of dairy product, fish, meat and beef to America. Depending on the outcomes of what was announced last night regarding that sector, it is not the appropriate time to be committing to importing beef from South America. Certainly. this has brought that trade deal back into focus and we need to keep our eye very closely on the ball.

Based on what I said at the outset, using a football analogy, we have often seen situations when teams have concentrated on a marquee player and then on the day of the big game it is another player who comes in, steals the show, and has a man of the match performance because they have taken their eye off him. We cannot take our eye off all our other deals. We are not the only country or continent affected by what was announced last night. All the countries we trade with and export to are going to be affected in some way. If, in a worst-case scenario, what was announced affects their cost of living and exacerbates inflation in those countries, their disposable incomes will be limited and that will have a knock-on effect on what they buy off us. We need to keep an eye on all our trading partners across the world, not just America, and not lose focus on our other trading partners by concentrating solely on America.