My constituent Mr. Maurice Brady, who is highly regarded for his knowledge of the agrifood sector and who was recently elected regional vice president of the Irish Farmers Association, IFA, has brought to my attention the detailed report from a recent fact-finding mission to Brazil by the IFA and Irish Farmers Journal, which has to be a further cause for real concern for the European Union in relation to the Mercosur trade deal. The Government must ensure that the best interests of the Irish agrifood sector are fully protected in these trade negotiations.

As the Taoiseach knows, this State has for many decades invested very heavily, along with the farming community, in building up a world-class agrifood industry. Our industry operates to very high standards from primary production with high welfare and biosecurity standards, exceptional traceability and sustainable processing systems. Europe must not be subject to imports of products, particularly beef and poultry from systems that have much lower standards of production and monitoring. The proposed safeguarding regulation must be strengthened or there is the potential to do untold damage to not just the agrifood sector but to our overall national economy and employment.

I thank the Deputy for raising this question. I want to acknowledge his absolute consistent support and adherence to a high-quality food production system in this country and agriculture. At the moment, the European Union currently imports around 200,000 tonnes of beef from Mercosur countries annually. What is being proposed now is that the Mercosur countries will be granted a beef quota of 99,000 tonnes subdivided into 55,000 fresh and 45,000 frozen, with an in-quota tariff of 7.5% to be phased in over six equal stages. The Government has been actively engaged with like-minded European Union countries to voice Ireland's concerns in relation to the EU-Mercusor agreement. The Deputy is correct that the EU has very stringent standards, which are known as sanitary and phytosanitary standards, SPS, to protect human, animal and plant life.

These standards are among the highest in the world and are non-negotiable. I cannot give a longer answer but the European Union, in the context of the latest agreement, has committed to increasing the number of audits and checks in third countries and to strengthening the SPS controls undergone. The reports identified by the Deputy have raised concerns.