Is mian liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil le Sinn Féin as an rún a chur os comhair an Tí. I also voice my dismay at the delay by the Government in reaching this decision. This is not the first time this coalition has struggled to make decisions in a timely manner. Unfortunately, there are many issues facing this country that need to be sorted out and this is one example. I am a TD for Dublin South-Central, which I know is not the farming centre of this country. However, I too want to use my voice because many of my constituents have contacted me and asked me to use my voice to show opposition to this deal. They have a number of concerns around protecting farmers. I believe there are farmers in the Gallery. They probably passed through Dublin South-Central on the way. They are all very welcome. We really want to support them. The concern is for the farmers. It is about beef farmers and the 900,000 tonnes of beef that will be allowed to come in to the EU from Mercosur. It is about the 180,000 tonnes of poultry that will be sent to the EU over the next five years. Given that poultry is not heavy, that is a lot of poultry. It is about how this will affect farmers who already struggle. That is a concern my constituents have. My constituents are also worried about animal welfare. They are particularly worried about the use of antibiotics and hormones, all those things that, for the most part, are banned over here. I read in an RTÉ report last week that the Department of agriculture was notified by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland in December that there was an issue with 128 kg of beef, basically because it had a growth hormone. That beef was sent over here, then up to Northern Ireland and then down here. That is an issue. We are very strict in Ireland about what can be used with regard to hormones, growth hormones and antibiotics. Is that going to slip now because of this deal? That is not good enough. It is not good enough for the animals. We have strict measures on farms here. Those cost producers and farmers a lot of money and if they are being undermined, it is not acceptable. The constituents who contact me are asking why the Government could not make a decision on this deal and if there was a commitment in the programme for Government, why the Government wasted time. Why did the Government not build alliances with EU partner countries that objected to the deal, such as Poland, France and others? Why did it leave it to the last minute to challenge the deal, leaving it now scrambling at the end? Forward planning is important from an environmental and animal welfare point of view, but also for our homegrown farmers and how we support them. Let this be a lesson to the Government that when it has to make decisions it is not faffing around trying to figure out what is going on. I was very interested to hear what my colleague Deputy Whitmore said. We need clarity and leadership on issues such as this. I thank the Minister of State very much. Hello to everybody in the Gallery.

Sentiment score: 0.01