This week Brazilian beef on sale in the EU and the North of Ireland has been recalled due to the presence of banned cancer-linked hormones. The Mercosur trade deal will not only impact the health of farmers and their livelihoods; it will also impact the health of the general public. It is about what the Government is willing to let the public consume. The thoughts that children in Ireland could be eating beef containing these banned cancer-linked hormones should be setting off alarm bells. It is the Taoiseach not worried? I can tell him that as a mother I am worried. I am worried about the risk it poses to my family. This should be black and white. Our health and the health of our families should not be put at risk for the benefit of a trade deal. What levels of testing have been carried out on Mercosur beef coming into Ireland? Will the Taoiseach stand by and let the Commission push this deal on us even if it affects our public health?

As I said earlier, I am very concerned about these reports. The European Union currently imports approximately 200,000 tons of beef from Mercosur countries annually. There was an assessment done some years ago on the proposed EU-Mercosur agreement that it would result in an additional 50,000 tonnes once it was fully phased in, but approximately 99,000 tonnes would benefit from an in-quota tariff of 7.5%. The fact is that Mercosur beef is coming into the country and it has been, and it is very worrying that carcinogenic hormones have been detected.

I know but all the tests-----

The EU has very stringent SPS standards and they have to be implemented and enforced.

They are not-----

Our standards are among the highest in the world. It is interesting that in other trade deals some of the countries did not manage to export too much into Europe because of the SPS standards, which are often described as non-tariff barriers.