I join with others in extending every good wish for Christmas and the new year to all staff and Members of the Oireachtas. In the context of the proposed Mercosur deal, I again raise the detailed report from the IFA and the Irish Farmers' Journal on their recent fact-finding mission to Brazil. That report again outlined very clearly how much inferior food production is in Brazil and elsewhere in South America in comparison to the standards in this country and throughout the European Union. We should continually highlight that for decades, this State has invested very heavily, as has the farming community, in building successfully a world-class agrifood industry. Day in, day out, our farmers and processors work extremely hard on maintaining our food production systems to exceptionally high standards. There is a cost on the farming community in maintaining those standards, including high welfare and biosecurity standards and traceability. Our beef and poultry sectors are extremely concerned about the potential for totally unfair competition if inferior product is allowed into the European Union. The proposed safeguarding regulations need to be substantially strengthened. Our agrifood sector's concerns about this proposed trade deal must be robustly and vigorously outlined and advanced in all discussions by Government at EU level.

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