Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 February 2018
86. Deputy Willie Penrose asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the discussions held with the other member states which, along with Ireland, are deeply concerned regarding the impact of the Mercosur proposals to permit increased access to the EU prime beef market; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7142/18]
View answerI have continuously raised the very significant threat posed to the European and Irish beef sectors by an EU-Mercosur trade deal with my Member State colleagues and with Commissioners Hogan and Malmström. These efforts have been reinforced at official level through similar contacts with Member States and the Commission, particularly through the Special Committee on Agriculture and the Trade Policy Committee.
Working with Member States has been very effective, for example in ensuring that no beef tariff rate quota offer was made by the EU to Mercosur in 2016. Initially, a draft offer circulated by the Commission to Member States in April 2016 contained a significant tariff rate quota (TRQ) for beef. Ireland worked very closely with other Member States in both Agriculture and Trade committees of the EU, and at Council of Ministers level, seeking to have this TRQ removed and to have a comprehensive assessment of the cumulative impact of all FTAs on the agriculture sector carried out by the Commission before any substantial offer would be made. Following this intense lobbying, the Commission decided to exclude a TRQ for beef when it exchanged offers with Mercosur on 11 May 2016.
I also worked very closely with a number of other Member States, most notably France, in the production of a joint paper that was submitted to the European Commission on 26 September 2017 outlining our shared concerns.
I was therefore deeply disappointed that the Commission decided to submit a beef tariff rate quota offer during the October round of negotiations with the Mercosur bloc, as I believe that this could not be coming at a worse time for the EU beef sector. I have been very consistent in urging caution in the approach to these negotiations, and have expressed Ireland's very grave concerns about the offer of a beef tariff rate quota of 70,000. Our views have been expressed clearly and consistently in EU discussions at political and official level, and by the Taoiseach in recent engagements with French President Emmanuel Macron and with Commission President Jean Claude Juncker.
Most recently, Ireland made the latest in a series of very strong interventions on this matter at the Trade Policy Committee in Brussels on 2 February, and my colleague, Minister of State Andrew Doyle, also made a very strong intervention at the January Council of Agriculture Ministers meeting in Brussels, and spoke to Commissioner Hogan on the matter. Ireland also consulted closely with French and other Member State colleagues in the margins of the WTO Ministerial meeting in Buenos Aires in December in an effort to ensure that no further concessions would be made in relation to beef.
I believe there is a need for continued vigilance in relation to the conduct of these trade negotiations, and I will continue to insist that they are handled appropriately, and in a manner that safeguards the interests of the Irish and European beef sector. I will continue to work with other member states to protect the interests of the Irish beef sector.
