I welcome this motion and the opportunity to speak on this really important issue. I thank Sinn Féin for bringing it forward. The Social Democrats will be 100% supportive of this motion. Objection to the Mercosur free trade agreement is not just a matter of trade but of principle, sovereignty, environmental integrity and protecting our indigenous industries. This deal is a direct threat to our beef and poultry sectors, to our rural communities and to the standards we have fought so hard to uphold in food safety, animal welfare and environmental protection. I begin by expressing a deep concern I am sure others in this Chamber share. I am sure many people in the Gallery do so too. The Government is not fighting this deal with the urgency or strength it demands. I have often wondered what kind of conversations would have happened in this Chamber when we were talking about the Common Fisheries Policy. What kind of discussions, debates and arguments were put forward when Ireland was signing away our sovereignty when it came to our fishing resources? I must say that reading this speech from the Minister today, I would imagine it was very similar. The Minister has seven pages here in this speech about Mercosur and, my goodness, there is vague and watery language. There is talk of "repeatedly emphasising", "the text did not go far enough", "the Government has concerns", and "examining the final package". Nowhere in this speech does he say this Government is opposed to Mercosur. Nowhere in this speech has he stated that Ireland will formally or has formally opposed this deal. That is exactly what we needed to hear from the Minister tonight. It is what people in the Gallery needed to hear. Instead, it is wishy-washy language. In May this year, I raised this issue with the Tánaiste. I asked specifically what countries he was talking with to ensure we can have a minority blocking group on this matter. I asked him who he was working with. Similarly, I got fluffy language back but nothing definite. I was told we were having meetings. Where are the results of those meetings? Why is the Minister not able to say we are absolutely 100% against this deal and we will fight hard for our rural communities when it comes to it? Turning to Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and, indeed, the Independents, who have been lambasting me recently-----
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-----in relation to ensuring we have a robust farming sector that works with our environmental sector, where are they tonight?
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I am not specifically talking about the Minister of State. I am talking about the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae. Where is he tonight? He is not here for this debate. Where is his support for rural communities when it comes to Mercosur? Is he just going to roll over and accept it because Europe says so? In relation to this deal, the numbers speak for themselves. The Mercosur trade deal will allow 99,000 tonnes of beef into the EU annually at a reduced tariff rate of 7.5%. These will not just be low-value cuts. They will be premium steaks and striploin fillets, the very products Irish farmers rely on to fetch to fair prices in European markets. Ireland exports roughly 440,000 tonnes of beef every year, which is worth €2.8 billion. Meat Industry Ireland, MII, estimates that Mercosur could cost our beef industry between €100 million and €130 million annually. This represents a loss of between €75 and €95 per head of cattle. Suckler farmers are already operating on razor-thin margins and will now be pushed to the brink. Family farms will be lost and rural Ireland will suffer. No amount of plámasing from the Healy-Raes or the Ministers will make up for that loss. I also want to mention that it is very important Sinn Féin has included poultry in this motion because sometimes I think we do not have the debate in relation to poultry and the impact Mercosur will have on poultry producers. They are often sidelined in this debate. They will, however, face immediate and severe exposure under Mercosur. The deal allows 180,000 tonnes of poultry into the EU under a five-year transition period. In one year alone, 30,000 tonnes will enter. This is equivalent to the entire annual Irish chicken breast meat production of 1.2 billion fillets. To put it plainly, a single year of Mercosur imports could wipe out the domestic market for a cornerstone product of our poultry sector. Brazilian poultry is sold at less than half the price of its EU equivalent. That price differential reflects very different input costs, regulatory standards and production practices. In essence, that price differential reflects a significantly lower-quality product. Irish producers cannot compete on price with imports produced under such conditions nor should they have to. The EU already imports 400,000 tonnes of poultry meat annually. Adding Mercosur volumes risks flooding the market with cheap imports and will devastate local producers and seriously undermine our food sovereignty, something becoming more and more important in an increasingly unstable world. This deal is not just bad for our farmers, however. I will always speak up for the environment when it needs someone in here to speak for it. This deal is bad for the environment and our planet. Mercosur countries, especially Brazil, have been the focus of intense international concern over deforestation, land conversion and weak enforcement of environmental laws. Large areas of the Amazon rain forest have been cleared at alarming rates to make way for cattle ranching and soya production, releasing vast stores of carbon and destroying biodiversity. It is hard to miss the bitter irony of COP 30 being hosted in the heart of the rain forest as it disappears before our very eyes. The optics are bleak but the reality is much worse. While global leaders meet to discuss climate action, the ecosystems those negotiations rely on are being actively degraded around them. Approving a trade deal that increases market access for commodities linked to that degradation risks locking in supply chains that perpetuate high emissions and environmental harm. Irish farmers are being asked to meet ever stricter sustainability standards, adopt climate-smart practices and absorb the cost of decarbonisation. Meanwhile, imports produced with lower environmental safeguards-----
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Is the Leas-Cheann Comhairle allowing that to happen?
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Are you allowing him to come in here and interrupt this debate?
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Stay in your seat and stay quiet.
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Stay in your seat and stay quiet; it is not your time to talk.
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Leas-Cheann Comhairle-----
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-----this is unacceptable.
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He is completely interrupting this debate. He does not know when it is his turn to speak, and it is not his turn to speak now.
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Sit down and be quiet.
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Sit down and be quiet.
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Sit down and be quiet.
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I never mentioned your name at all.
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It is your brother sitting on the ministerial benches that I mentioned.
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You have not been. You have just walked back in.
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You have just walked back.
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You have not been here all the time. Would you stop?
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Okay, if we are let get back to it. Meanwhile imports produced with lower environmental safeguards effectively undercut these efforts. That is not fair competition; that is regulatory hypocrisy. Embedding references to the Paris Agreement into the text might provide political signalling but without binding enforceable environmental conditionality, it will not close the gap. If we are serious about protecting farmers, defending environmental standards and asserting food sovereignty, we must insist on treaty language that goes beyond rhetoric. This means concrete, enforceable obligations, automatic remedies for demonstrated competitive distortions and a transparent independent monitoring regime with teeth. Anything else will leave Irish producers paying the price of diplomacy dressed up as progress. There is then the issue of health. The quality of meat produced under Mercosur standards raised serious concerns. Brazil's beef farmers are known to use pesticides banned in the EU and reports have highlighted carcinogenic residues, antibiotic overuse, with poor traceability. Indeed, the use of hormones, such as estradiol, are used in some Mercosur production systems. This is a hormone that is banned in the EU due to cancer risks. How can we stand by our children consuming that? Overuse of antibiotics in intensive production contributes to antimicrobial resistance, weaker pesticide control and increases the risk of carcinogenic residues. In 2017, the EU banned Brazilian meat for a period because of these systemic failures. Has that been completely forgotten by this Government? We are so lucky in Ireland to have a high level of trust in our food system. Ratifying Mercosur would erode that trust and put our consumers at risk. This deal is not inevitable and the Government can stand against it. This motion stands up for Irish farmers, food safety and environmental integrity. I strongly urge the Government to support this motion and to formally object to the Mercosur free trade deal. When I say "formally object", I mean formally object. I do not mean the Government should go to the newspapers and talk about how it does not think it should go through. I do not mean standing up here in the Dáil and pretending or using rhetoric to suggest it is objecting to it. I mean it should actually go to the table and say this Government will not support it. That is what is necessary. There should be no more talk in the papers, no more press releases, no more fluffy language or pretending the Government is going to do something, treating farmers like they have not a notion what it is doing. They know exactly what the Government is doing. They know they are not being represented by it. They know they are not being represented by the Independents on those benches and by that kind of behaviour we have seen here tonight.
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That is not what people want to see. That is not who they want to see representing them in the manner they are being represented.
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They want the Government to stand with them and to oppose this deal. They will not forgive the Government if it does not do that. They will never forgive it if its lets them down at this stage.
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