Taoiseach Harris must repeat “adamant opposition” to renewed effort on Mercosur

 The President of ICMSA, Denis Drennan, has said that news that EU and Mercosur officials will meet next week in yet another attempt to ‘iron out’ long-standing obstacles to concluding the very controversial Trade Agreement provides the Government with a perfect opportunity to ‘put its money where its mouth is’ in term of a commitment to Ireland’s farm and agri-sector.    Mr. Drennan said that we will need to hear a public statement from the Taoiseach to the effect that Ireland’s position has not changed, and the State will absolutely nor ratify any agreement based on the existing proposals.

Mr. Drennan said that the fundamental contradiction inherent in the proposed Mercosur had not changed: “It is simply impossible to demand that Irish and other EU farmers both lower emissions and meet a raft of regulations on food standards and traceability, while ‘green lighting’ a trade agreement that will entail radically lower standards for the South American imports envisaged.  The beef and slaughter sectors in several of these States is significantly below EU standards that fact does represent a threat to consumers’ health that can’t – and certainly shouldn’t – be ignored.  There’s no reason at all to even consider this idea bar the wish of certain retail corporations to source environmentally destructive and substandard beef to undercut indigenous EU beef produced to the highest standards on the planet. That’s just a matter of record and it is simply impossible for the Irish Government and the EU Commission to pretend that it is otherwise”, said Mr. Drennan.

Noting the several expressions of commitment to Irish farming that the Taoiseach has already made, Mr. Drennan said that farmers would now expect the Taoiseach to repeat and re-emphasise our national opposition to any possibility of the Mercosur Agreement being signed -off on and ratified.

“There’s no point in either the Government or farmers fooling themselves about where all this is headed against the background of an imminent General Election either side of Christmas. Irish farming and the rural economy of which it is the chief component is already reeling from massive value wipeout. The Government needs to acknowledge the double-digit percentage collapses in value and incomes across all farming sectors. Put as bluntly as the situation requires, farmers need to hear from the Taoiseach on this matter and the idea that we are not going to notice their silence on a reheated Mercosur Agreement is going to reinforce the already justified perception that we have a Government that just doesn’t care about our farming and wider agri-sector, or the thousands of Irish families that work in it and depend on it for their livelihoods”, said Mr. Drennan.

The ICMSA President concluded by calling on the Government to announce ‘early and often’ that Ireland’s opposition to any Mercosur Agreement was as adamant as ever and that – particularly in light of the recent ‘EV-versus-Dairy Products’ issue -Ireland was no longer disposed to ‘take one for the team’.

“There are no circumstances where our call for a ‘level playing field’ in terms of food standards and sustainable production can interpreted as anything other than simple justice and logical consistency. We cannot insist on EU farmers meeting the highest standards while simultaneously negotiating for the importation of food that will come nowhere near the same standards. That being the case, we await the Taoiseach’s confirmation of Ireland’s continuing opposition to any possibility of a Mercosur Agreement”, concluded Mr. Drennan.

Ends    30 August 2024

Denis Drennan, 086-8389401

President, ICMSA.

Or

Cathal MacCarthy, 087-6168758

ICMSA Press Office