The Irish Farmers' Association - IFA

Lobbying Organisation The Irish Farmers' Association - IFA

Date published 15 Jan, 2025

Relevant Matter Public policy or programme

Public Policy Area EU Affairs

Period 1 Sep, 2024 to 31 Dec, 2024

Specific Details EU - Mercosur Trade Deal

Intended results To highlight that Irish and European farmers have continually voiced their opposition to any conclusion of the Mercosur Trade Agreement which has the potential to decimate the Irish and European beef and poultry sectors. Despite this, the European Commission continues to press for a conclusion to negotiations while ignoring the concerns of farmers. The Commission seems intent on sacrificing European farmers in order to secure agreement on this deeply flawed trade deal. To emphasise that the position of Irish farmers has remained consistent in complete opposition to the proposed deal. The core reasons for this are as follows 1. Irish and EU beef and poultry sectors will be decimated as a result of increased imports of tariff beef and poultry from countries who have a competitive advantage due to the lower production regulations and standards 2. The proposed addendum reflecting measures for implementation of environmental law does not provide sufficiently robust safeguards for European producers. 3. There is a clear absence of a robust tracing system for suppliers of beef cattle from Brazil to the EU market. Cattle are not foreseen to be fully traceable there until 2032. The EU cannot conclude a trade deal with such divergence of standards. Commission Audits of Brazilian Beef and Poultry as recent as April 2024 clearly demonstrate this gap in standards. 4. There is a lack of transparency surrounding cattle transfer permits in Brazil. This month the Brazilian environment protection agency IBAMA have imposed fines of R$365m (€59m) on farms and meat packers for raising or buying cattle on illegally deforested land in the Amazon. To stress that the potential economic impact of this deal on Irish farming is frightening. A tariff free quota of 99,000 tonnes of beef equates to 4m head of cattle (325kg carcase weight) equating to 18% of current EU beef production. Furthermore, any Brazilian imports are likely to be in the form of high value cuts such as steaks, further compounding the impact. To highlight that the particularly generous UK-NZ / AUS quotas (35,000t of duty free quota for beef imports from Australia rising to 110,000t by 2033) agreed since Brexit will disproportionally impact the Irish meat/beef sector and Irish farmers due both to our dependence on the UK market and our export dependence. This was not a consideration in the Mercosur political agreement of 2019. To highlight that a tariff free quota of 180,000 tonnes of poultry meat as contained in the current political agreement equals 100 million birds. Should an additional 180,000 tonnes of high value poultry breast meat gain access to the EU market via the Mercosur deal, it would further undermine our own Irish producers and indeed EU farmers due to the significant differential in price. Currently Brazilian poultry is less than half the price of comparable EU prices. To request that the EU Commission addresses our concerns in the manner set out in the recent EU Strategic Dialogue document which clearly states (p.47) that “Impact assessments must include concrete and scientific comparison and mapping of production methods and standards as well as conclusions on their impact for agricultural producers, the environment, health, labour, animal welfare, the supply chain business and consumers in both EU and partner countries.” To completely oppose any splitting of the trade and political aspects of a potential Mercosur deal. The role of national parliaments in relation to trade deal ratification must be respected and honoured by the EU Commission To urge the EU Commission to avail of every opportunity to communicate Irelands' fundamental opposition to a trade agreement which lacks any consideration of the vulnerabilities of over 100,000 livestock farmers in Ireland. To support the EU Copa 'Flash Action' in Brussels to object to the EU Mercosur Trade Deal.

Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity Francie Gorman IFA President, Damian McDonald IFA Director General, Liam MacHale IFA Director of European Affairs, Noel Banville IFA European Affairs Policy Executive

Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?) No

Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign? No

Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client? No

Lobbying activity

The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.

Letter (2-5)

Email (2-5)

Event / Reception (2-5)

Meeting (2-5)

Social Media (1)

Informal communication (2-5)

Designated public officials lobbied

The following DPOs were lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area. These DPOs were involved in at least one of the Lobbying Activities listed above, but not necessarily all of them. As returns are specific to a Subject Matter Area the above Lobbying Activities may be associated with multiple returns.

Aodhan O'Riordain MEP (European Parliament)

Barry Andrews MEP (European Parliament)

Barry Cowen MEP (European Parliament)

Billy Kelleher MEP (European Parliament)

Ciaran Mullooly MEP (European Parliament)

Cynthia Ní Mhurchú MEP (European Parliament)

Kathleen Funchion MEP (European Parliament)

Luke Ming Flanagan MEP (European Parliament)

Lynn Boylan MEP (European Parliament)

Maria Walsh MEP (European Parliament)

Michael McNamara MEP (European Parliament)

Micheál Martin Tánaiste and Minister (Department of Foreign Affairs)

Nina Carberry MEP (European Parliament)

Paul Daly Senator (Seanad)

Peter Burke Minister (Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment)

Regina Doherty MEP (European Parliament)

Seán Canney TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Sean Kelly MEP (European Parliament)

Simon Harris Taoiseach (Department of the Taoiseach)

Aidan Campbell Councillor (Monaghan County Council)

Aoife McCooey Councillor (Monaghan County Council)

Brian McKenna Councillor (Monaghan County Council)

Cathy Bennett Councillor (Monaghan County Council)

Colm Carthy Councillor (Monaghan County Council)

David Maxwell Councillor (Monaghan County Council)

Hugh McElvaney Councillor (Monaghan County Council)

Mary Kerr Conlon Councillor (Monaghan County Council)

Noel Keelan Councillor (Monaghan County Council)

P.J. O'Hanlon Councillor (Monaghan County Council)

Pat Treanor Councillor (Monaghan County Council)

Paudge Connolly Councillor (Monaghan County Council)

Peter Conlan Councillor (Monaghan County Council)

Raymond Aughey Councillor (Monaghan County Council)

Richard Truell Councillor (Monaghan County Council)

Seamus Coyle Councillor (Monaghan County Council)

Seamus Treanor Councillor (Monaghan County Council)

Seán Conlon Councillor (Monaghan County Council)

Sean Gilliland Councillor (Monaghan County Council)

Brendan Gleeson Secretary General (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)

Amii McKeever Adviser to Minister (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)

Charlie McConalogue Minister (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)

Micheál Martin Tánaiste and Minister (Department of Foreign Affairs)

Simon Harris An Taoiseach (Department of the Taoiseach)

Jack O'Donnell Special Advisor (Department of the Taoiseach)