I have been told by a number of TD’s that the reason the Irish Government was sitting on the fence for so long about supporting the Mercosur deal is because a backhand deal was done with the EU. The understanding was that Ireland could keep the nitrates derogation, as long as we didn’t block Mercosur.
The Government never expected Italy to come out against the deal. They thought they could turn around to Irish beef farmers and say our vote wouldn’t make any difference anyway. That plan has now been exposed.
Time and time again, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael have sold out Irish beef farmers to protect large-scale dairy interests. Enough is enough. This has to stop.
Now is the time for every beef farmer to find out where their local TD really stands. Get onto them, put them under pressure and make it very clear that beef farmers will not accept being betrayed again when the Mercosur vote comes up again in January.
If we don’t stand up now, we’ll be ignored again.
Aiden MacHale
President.