“Mercosur trade deals reveals Ireland’s deepening slide into EU irrelevance- Ken O’Flynn TD
Independent Ireland TD Ken O’Flynn has issued a damning critique of what he termed “the latest example of the unmitigated political impotence of successive Irish Governments when it comes to delivering on the interests of Irish agriculture and farming livelihoods.”
The Cork North-Central TD was speaking after it was confirmed that the European Commission will tomorrow transmit the EU-Mercosur and EU-Mexico trade agreements to the EU Council and the European Parliament. The text of the controversial agreement remains unaltered despite intensive lobbying by Irish farm organisations and assurances by Government that beef farmers interests in particular would be protected in any final text of the deal. It has now emerged however that no revisions have been made to address its fundamental weaknesses:
“We may as well have sent the vegan society to negotiate Irish beef farmers interests with respect to Mercosur for all the good that our shambolic and inept government representation achieved,” said Deputy O’Flynn.
“This agreement is structurally flawed and politically indefensible and it represents a direct threat to Irish agriculture, to the integrity of European food standards, and to the sustainability of rural communities. To support it would be to abandon both principle and prudence.”
“At the national level Irish agriculture is now facing severe and unprecedented levels of disruption as the it embeds a concession to flood the Irish and EU markets with at least 99,000 tonnes of beef and 180,000 tonnes of poultry to Mercosur states, along with significant quotas for sugar and ethanol.”
“For a country where beef exports are worth €2.8 billion annually, and where over half of our farms specialise in beef production, this is not an incremental adjustment. It is a structural displacement of Irish producers.”
“At the international level, the deal starkly reveals that Ireland is now simply not even at the races when it comes to enormous trade deals of this kind. We are in effect little more than spectators to the work of an EU machine that is quite happy to surrender and deprioritise Irish interests without a second thought.”
“As for the much-publicised €3 billion support package. This is not an investment in farmers’ futures. It is a redundancy scheme by another name. Transitional payments cannot offset the permanent erosion of farm incomes or the dismantling of a viable sector.”
“Independent Ireland has been consistent in its opposition. “Our MEP, Ciarán Mullooly, will voice that opposition at the European Parliament’s Trade Committee,” Deputy O’Flynn confirmed. “I now call upon the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste to act with clarity. Ireland must reject this deal outright. The stakes for our farmers, and for the future of Irish agriculture, are too high to equivocate.”
“Farmers understand the implications. They will not be deceived by assurances that fail to address the core problems. The Mercosur agreement, in its present form, is incompatible with Ireland’s economic, environmental, and social interests. It must be opposed.”
