MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Irish farmers protest Mercosur negotiations before EC offices in Dublin

IFA president Joe Healy said: “We will oppose EU Commission plans to sell out Irish farming in a deal with the devil that is Brazil and its President Bolsonaro”

A protest by the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) is taking place at the European Commission offices in Dublin over the “double standards of the commission” in their reckless pursuit of a sell-out trade deal” with the Mercosur trade bloc.

The protest started this Monday morning at 8:00am

Commenting ahead of the demonstration, IFA president Joe Healy said: “We will be there to oppose EU Commission plans to sell out Irish farming in a deal with the devil that is Brazil and its new President Bolsonaro.

“Farmers are sick of the double speak from the EU Commission which lectures us on climate change, but is prepared to do a deal with a country with a climate destruction agenda,” he said.

The president claimed that numerous reports “expose” a failure by Brazil in particular to meet EU standards on animal welfare, traceability, food safety and the environment.“We hear a lot about the size of the Irish cattle herd, which is under seven million. Yet Brazil has 230 million cattle, with a further 53 million in Argentina.

Healy accused the commission of being reckless to allow tens of thousands of tons of Mercosur beef into Europe in the midst of Brexit.

In a separate communication to the commission, some 340 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from across Europe have said the deal should be abandoned.

Healy was very critical of the seven prime ministers who he said are “turning a blind eye to low standards and are intent on giving the Brazilian Prime Minister Bolsonaro free license to continue destroying the environment”.