Concerns about the EU agreement with Mercosur will "pale into insignificance" if there is a no-deal Brexit, the Taoiseach has told the Dáil as farmers protested outside Leinster House about the crisis facing the beef sector.
Leo Varadkar said that "everyone understands the pressure beef farmers are under, particularly at a time when prices are so low and when they face the threat of a no deal Brexit".
He added that “the best thing we can do for our beef farmers, recognising their importance to the wider rural community, is to make sure we secure a deal on Brexit by end of October so that the largest export markets for our beef farmers remains open”.
He warned that they were not doing anything for beef farmers, rural communities or the industry “if we just bury our heads in the sand” because Ireland exported 90 per cent of its beef and “free trade is good for our industry”.
Mr Varadkar was responding to Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald who called on the Taoiseach to back her party’s private member’s motion demanding the Government opposes the deal between the EU and Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
The agreement provides for the import of 99,000 tonnes of beef, 180,000 tonnes of poultry and 25,000 tonnes of pig meat as part of a trade deal that includes a wide variety of industries from food to cars and the pharmaceutical sector.
Ms McDonald said “it seems to me that you’re quite prepared to throw farmers under the bus in favour of bigger corporate interests who wish to export into the large South American market”.
Everyone knew the Amazon was being destroyed on a daily basis by logging to make way for grazing and this would be accelerated if the deal was approved.
The Amazon had been described as the “lungs of the world” but “your Government is proposing to puncture the lungs of the world to allow cheap beef imports into Europe. That is unforgiveable,” Ms McDonald claimed.
And she said it “makes no sense to allow our market to be flooded with South American beef”.
Mr Varadkar told her that Brexit was the pressing issue that the Government was giving so much time to because we know how much our rural economy and farmers will suffer if we end up in a no deal scenario.
“The concerns that arise from Mercosur will pale into significance if we end up with no deal on October 31st.”
But he said the Mercosur document was a “political agreement in relation to a future trade deal”.
He said that if the deal was not in Ireland’s interests “we will not hesitate to vote against it”. But he said they had to see the full deal agreement and do a full economic and environmental assessment.
They had to make sure the competition was fair to ensure Mercosur countries met the same food safety, environmental and traceability standards.
“And if that is done, as the best beef producers in the world, we should be able to compete if the playing field is fair.”
There were rowdy scenes later during the debate on the Sinn Féin motion.
Minister for Business Heather Humphreys, who said she lived on a farm, added that “some people were very happy to jump on the bandwagon” of criticism for political gain.
But she said “some of them wouldn’t know a bee from a bull’s foot or wouldn’t know the difference between a bull and a bullock”.
Independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice said EU Agricultru Commissioner said he had secured €1 billion that would save 27 countries in Europe.
But he said Irish exports on beef alone are worth €3 billion. “So Phil can shove his €1bn where the sun doesn’t shine as it will not save our beef industry. We need to put a floor under it.”
Minister for Agirculture Michael Creed said a vote against the agreement in the Dail “will achieve nothing because there is no agreement as we speak”. There was an opportunity to gwet the deal right for Irealnd and “we don’t need to be distracted by posturing”.
But Sinn Féin TD David Cullinane said it was an insult “to say votes in this parliament are meaningless” and they were asking the Government to wear the Irish jersey in the same way that the Germans wore the German jersey “ and got the best deal of cheap German cars in South America” in return for inferior South American beef in Europe.
