ICSA president Sean McNamara has welcomed confirmation from the Taoiseach Micheál Martin that Ireland is to vote no to Mercosur at tomorrow's meeting of the European Council. "This is the right decision, but it should have been made clear long before today. The dangers of this deal have been obvious for years. It is completely unacceptable to demand world-leading standards from Irish farmers while importing food produced to weaker rules. That is not fair trade, it's pure hypocrisy," he said.

Continuing Mr McNamara said, "Mercosur is about forcing Irish and European farmers to compete with beef produced to lower standards, lower costs and weaker controls. No amount of so-called safeguards can ever change that reality. You cannot protect farmers from financial devastation while opening the door to large volumes of cheap beef produced under rules that would land you in jail here. Once prices collapse, no safeguard can put family farms back together again."

 "But this is not just about farmers. The same so-called safeguards that won't protect farmers will also never guarantee that consumers are protected from the unregulated use of hormones and antibiotics in imported Mercosur beef."

 Mr McNamara said Ireland's opposition to this deal cannot stop here. "Once tomorrow's vote is done, the process will move from the Council to the European Parliament in the coming weeks. Every Irish MEP must reject this deal and rally the necessary opposition within their parliamentary groupings. They must make the voices of Irish farmers and consumers heard loud and clear."

 Concluding, Mr McNamara said: "The Government made a clear commitment to oppose Mercosur in the last election and in its own Programme for Government. Farmers are entitled to ask why it took threats to the Government's survival before that promise was finally honoured."