As the Minister of State knows, we are living in very uncertain and volatile times across the world, in particular with conflicts in so many places around the globe. We are all very aware of the impact this is having, in particular on fuel prices and other commodities in Ireland. It is all having a knock-on effect on food prices and the food chains in the European Union. I am sure these are issues that are to the forefront of everyone's mind. I want to concentrate on the beef industry. The volume of Irish beef exports fell by 5% in 2025, and across the European Union, beef exports fell by 2.2%. The volume of Irish beef exported to the UK fell by 5%. EU beef production is expected to decline by a further 1% this year. There has been an increase in beef imports from countries outside of the European Union, the majority of which comes from Mercosur countries, even before the Mercosur trade agreement comes into place. An EU-Australia trade deal is coming up, which will see 30,000 tonnes of beef coming into the European Union. The EU must reverse the decline in beef production and not leave us in a position whereby we are dependent on importing food from the other side of the world. Irish and EU food is produced to the highest standards from an environmental and animal welfare point of view. Given the volatility in the world, it does not make sense to leave EU food security in such a vulnerable position. Sacrificing it for guns is not an option. Many people in Europe fear that is what is happening. A farmer recently asked me who would feed Ursula von de Leyen's army. That is the kind of impact this is having on people.

Sentiment score: 0.00

I understand that, but that is the view people have developed from all of the talk about more and more militarisation. The cut in the CAP budget needs to be reversed. People need to be reminded that CAP payments or subsidies, as Leo Varadkar would now call them, are not free money for farmers. CAP was established to ensure food security, increase productivity and guarantee fair living standards for farmers across the EU. It was designed to stabilise markets, harmonise competitiveness and have rules across every member state to create a secure and sustainable affordable supply chain of food for everyone. Leo Varadkar's comments were shameful and they are another example of the anti-farmer and anti-rural rhetoric we hear from parts of the Government, in particular Fine Gael. It is no wonder Fine Gael refused to stand with farmers or listen to protesters when it has such an attitude towards rural Ireland. For the EU to have food security, Ireland needs to have food security. As an island nation, we should ensure that we have a proper and thriving fishing industry. Yet, the Irish fishing sector has been decimated by Dutch, Danish and Norwegian fishing fleets which plunder Irish waters. The Government has stood by and allowed this to happen. It did not even bother to vote against the deal in February. The Irish fishing fleet has been let down by this Government and successive governments over the years. This needs to change. We need to stop the industrial scale fishing with super-factory ships and reckless overfishing again and again while the Irish fishing fleet, which has played by the rules, is thrown against the rocks and totally betrayed. Ireland is very proud of our neutrality. We have a history of peacekeeping and standing up for human rights and international law. We are proud to be members of the EU Security Council and respected for our stance on these issues by other countries across the globe. That is why it is important that we maintain the triple lock and our neutrality because that is exactly what people want to happen.

Sentiment score: 0.15