Independent Ireland TD, Michael Fitzmaurice has said: "It's utterly reckless to think this [Mercosur deal] would be anything other than a disaster for farmers."

The European Union's Commissioner for Trade, Maros Sefcovic has acknowledged that Irish beef prices could fall by as much as 45% in the next five years.

Despite this, Brussels would not have to trigger safety mechanisms against South American imports under the proposed Mercosur trade agreement.

The admission was made by Sefcovic following questions by the Independent Ireland TD, that beef prices could be allowed to fall by up to 9% under the proposed Mercosur trade agreement, before protective measures could be triggered.

Under the terms of the draft deal, beef from Mercosur states - Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uraguay, would be granted significant tariff-free access to the EU market.

The commission has previously insisted that safeguard clauses exist to protect European farmers in the event of market disruption.

Fitzmaurice said: "The commissioner admitted that the Mercosur deal allows beef prices to fall by up to 10% annually before safeguards kick in.

"In that case we could see a 9% drop in beef prices for the next five years and the EU would do nothing about it.

Speaking at an Oireachtas Committee meeting on Trade and Economic Security, Inter-institutional Relations, and Transparency, which took place yesterday (October 2), the EU Trade Commissioner said: "Here, if there was an increase of more than 10% year-on-year, that you highlight, that would have to be assessed."

Fitzmaurice then highlighted that if beef prices were to fall by 5% or 6% every year, the safeguards would not be implemented, and explained that he had heard "enough" from the commissioner.

Speaking after the meeting, Independent Ireland's Midlands North West MEP, Ciaran Mullooly said the remarks amounted to the “final nail in the coffin” for the controversial deal.

“Irish farmers are now being told that prices can collapse year-on-year before any so-called safety net is applied — that is not protection, it is surrender,” Mullooly stressed.

The European Commissioner has stood by the safeguards included in the EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement.

Speaking at an event in Wicklow yesterday (October 3), Sefcovic said that the safeguards were "unprecedented" in EU trade deals and are based on "very strict legal language".

In answer to a question from Agriland, Commissioner Sefcovic said: "We worked so intensively with your government but also with the governments of other EU member states who have been concerned with the Mercosur agreement and the potential impact it might have on the farmers.

"What it says in a nutshell is that we are putting into this very strict legal language, a legal obligation, the precise method how we will monitor the trade flows in the agri-food sector between Mercosur and the EU.

"If - and it is enough that this will happen in one member state, so let's say in Ireland - there is a year-to-year increase of 10% of imports or there is a 10% drop in the price of sensitive commodities, then we are obliged within five days to propose measures, which will be adopted again very speedily, within 21 days," he said.