The government is being called on to give a commitment that it will not impose any mandatory cuts to the national herd in an attempt to reduce agri-based emissions.
Independent TD Carol Nolan said: “It’s time for the equivocation and ambivalence to end…We need a definitive commitment from government that it will protect the economic interests of Irish farmers.
The Laois-Offaly TD argued that we “should not accept a situation to develop whereby one of the strongest sectors in Irish agriculture is effectively sacrificed for what amounts to a miniscule and irreverent contribution to the global reduction in emission numbers”.
She said that this has been made “abundantly clear”, by recent projections by exporters in Brazil.
According to figures from the Brazilian Beef Exporters Association (ABIEC), the Brazilian national beef herd will be 211,860,000-head by 2030.
Last year that figure stood at 187,546,000-head. This would be a 10-year increase of 24,314,000-head.
Furthermore, the country is set to slaughter 51,829,000-head in 2030, an increase of 10,332,000-head on last year’s figure.
Nolan claimed: “There is a now a very real chance that this government is going to make Irish farming the laughing stock of Europe and beyond because of the imposition of absurd, economically self-destructive policies which have no chance whatsoever of making the kind of difference for which they are being pursued.”
She added: “We have already seen the negative prospects for beef farmers outlined in the government’s own independent assessment of the economic, social, environmental and human rights impacts of the EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement.
Nolan asked: “Do we really want to continue down this path when it is now abundantly clear that other major beef producing countries such as Brazil are only too happy to totally ignore environmental objectives in the pursuit of competitive advantage?
“Is Ireland really ready to offer up our farmers in the face of such indifference.
“Government must get honest on this matter, but it must be ready to stand over the harsh and unavoidable economic realities that its policies are creating,” the TD concluded.