Mercosur deal 'bad for health and bad for Irish farming' Louth TD tells farmers

The Mercosur trade agreement which was passed by a vote of EU member states’ representatives last week, ‘is bad for health and bad for Irish farming’, Louth Sinn Féin TD Ruairí Ó Murchú told a demonstration in Dundalk on Saturday.

Over 100 farmers on tractors converged on Market Square on Saturday morning for a rally in support of a larger event in Athlone, which attracted thousands of protesters.

The Dundalk TD told the Dundalk protesters that Irish people were ‘way beyond disappointed’ with the EU representatives’ vote on Friday and accused the government of doing ‘far too little, far too late’.

Deputy Ó Murchú urged farmers to "keep the government’s feet to the flames" and said it was "not good enough" that nearly 100,000 tonnes of South American beef could come into Europe under the Mercosur deal.

He said: "It is not up to Irish beef standards. This is about health but it is also about sustaining rural Ireland. We are in support of free trade deals but we need to be talking about sustainable farming across Europe and Mercosur has nothing like that in it.

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“The answer is clear from Dundalk and Athlone: this has to be resolved. The only reason anything is happening in Ireland is because of the anger and action by farmers and we are in support of them”.

Deputy Ó Murchú said there is a legal challenge being taken by MEPs in Europe to the Mercosur agreement and Sinn Féin is this week bringing a Private Members’ Business (PMB) to the Dáil in support of this challenge.

The PMB calls on the government to engage directly with MEPs across the EU to get them to reject the deal.

He said: “We want everyone to be in support of the legal challenge and the PMB because Mercosur is bad for health and bad for Irish farming. It is simply not good enough. 

"We all know the issues in relation to hormones and antibiotics in Mercosur beef and the work that Irish farmers have done to set high food standards and quality.

“We need to see that pressure is kept on so that every Irish MEP votes against the deal and we put more pressure on Europe, to tell them that the deal is not good enough for Irish people, not good enough for Irish farmers and not good enough for the health and safety of the Irish people.

“I ask that everyone is in support of Irish farmers and say no to Mercosur”.