Cynthia Ní Mhurchú has repeated her opposition to elements of the Mercosur deal which would negatively impact Irish beef farmers by flooding EU markets with South American beef. She has claimed that pushing the deal through in its current format would exacerbate tensions between EU member states such as France and Ireland who have reservations on the deal and Germany, who is in favour of the South American trade deal.
Ní Mhurchú has called on the incoming Irish Government, to align themselves with countries like France, Austria, Poland and the Netherlands to form a block that can oppose the ratification of the Mercosur trade agreement until we have satisfactory and legally binding commitments on matters relating to trade, the beef market, sustainable development, biodiversity, and deforestation protections from the Mercosur countries.
“Irish agriculture cannot compete with the Mercosur countries in this trade agreement, namely Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – as they don’t face as many regulations and environmental measures as our farmers do – so it is not a level playing pitch. Our farmers are continually implementing environmental schemes whereas Mercosur farmers will, and have been destroying huge swathes of the Amazon rainforest for agriculture. That is just not fair”
“We have worked so hard to build a quality beef industry in Ireland, the envy of the world. Why should we throw it away and flood our markets with cheap, unregulated South American beef? The deal would allow 99,000 tonnes of Mercosur beef to enter the EU market with a 7.5% tariff. 55% of that quota will consist of fresh or chilled meat and 45% of lower value frozen meat”
