Mercosur deal catastrophic for farming sector in North West – Mac Sharry

Fianna Fáil TD for Sligo-Leitrim, Marc Mac Sharry, has said the government should oppose any ratification of the Mercosur deal as it would be catastrophic for farmers in the North West.

Deputy Mac Sharry commented, “This deal has taken almost 20 years to negotiate and Irish farmers have opposed the proposals in it every step of the way. Now, the government should listen to farming concerns and oppose any ratification of the Mercosur deal as the full impact of Brexit has not yet emerged. 

“This deal will see 99,000 tonnes of South American beef allowed into the European market every year destroying opportunity for Irish beef farmers.  

“This deal will also have a detrimental impact on the environment.  It seems ironic that on the one hand the government and the EU talks about reducing our carbon footprint to mitigate climate change, while on the other they have no issue with flying South American beef thousands of kilometres into Europe.

“Minister Creed knows that this is a bad deal for Ireland.  The government have repeatedly let down farming communities across Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, and Donegal. It would be reckless to ratify this deal, even more so as the uncertainty of Brexit looms over the Agri-sector in Ireland. 

“This is an exceptionally volatile period and I believe the EU should not take any decisions on this deal until the full post-Brexit scenario is known”, concluded Deputy Mac Sharry. 

Mercosur beef imports will damage our climate as well as farming - Naughten

The agreement by the EU to allow for the importation of 100,000 tonnes of beef from South America through the Mercosur trade agreement “not only undermines the livelihoods of farmers but is also damaging to our climate”, warns Denis Naughten TD.

“The EU already produces enough beef to meet its needs and beef production in the EU is four times more carbon efficient than Brazilian beef imports,” stated Denis Naughten.

“It is also important to point out that 70% of the deforestation of the Amazon - the lungs of our planet - is to provide land for cattle ranches and now the EU wants to reward this practice in this new trade deal.

“Some 11% of the greenhouse gas emissions involved in food production are directly linked to food transportation. Surely, it makes far more sense to bring beef from Dublin to Brussels, a distance of 961 km, than 11,000 km from Buenos Aires to Brussels?

“The EU & its Member States cannot accept a situation where trade agreements lead to an overall increase in global emissions, by shutting down production in Europe and pushing up emissions in other parts of the world.

“Bizarrely there is an acceptance at EU level that we must give special treatment to certain industries with high carbon emissions, in order to keep them in a much regulated Europe, rather than a free-for-all outside our borders.

“We now need to do the same on trade where there must be a level playing field on carbon efficiency when it comes to beef production,” concluded Denis Naughten.

ENDS.

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