The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Michael Creed, is not here. Concerns are increasing about the Mercosur deal and the intention of the European Commission to increase the offer being made to the four countries which are objecting, including Paraguay. The European Commission had been offered 120,000 tonnes of beef imports, which would come into Ireland and other countries. If the offer is increased, which seems likely, it will have a detrimental impact on our farming industry, in particular the beef sector. It would be appropriate to take immediate action to ensure that we are not flooded with cheap beef that would destroy our already vulnerable beef industry.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade can answer.

I will happily deal with the issue. I can assure the Deputy that the Taoiseach has made his views on the issue very clearly known. Ireland wants more trade deals put in place, but we have very strong defensive issues, in particular on beef. Any Mercosur deal is very sensitive and the Irish concerns have been very forcefully made by the Taoiseach. We have sought and received support from other countries. The French President has also been very strong on this issue, specifically in respect of concerns from a beef perspective. We have some strong allies. I can assure the Deputy that the concerns he outlined have been expressed very clearly by the Government on a number of levels.