ICSA will stage a rally next Tuesday to protest the impending Mercosur Trade Deal and highlight the severe threat it poses to Irish agriculture and rural communities. ICSA president Sean McNamara said he is calling on all farmers, agribusinesses, and rural communities to unite in defending the future of Irish agriculture and rural livelihoods at the gates of Leinster House on Tuesday, November 5, at 11 a.m.

“Mercosur will devastate Irish agriculture by allowing cheap, untraceable beef from South America to flood the European market. Rather than supporting high-quality Irish and European beef, this deal is a blatant attempt to turn our beef into a low-cost, lowest common denominator commodity, and will reduce us to competing at unsustainable world market prices, currently standing at €3.50/kg. We cannot allow our beef farmers to be sacrificed in this way,” he said.

“If this deal goes ahead, Irish farmers will be forced into an impossible situation, facing deliberately stacked odds that make it unsustainable to compete. Beef farmers already struggle to make ends meet – how can they be expected to compete against foreign producers who can undercut them at every turn?  We are outraged that Irish beef farmers could be put in this position.

But this is about more than just farming; it’s about the future of rural Ireland. The viability of producing high-quality, sustainable beef in Ireland will be crushed, leading to a further decline in the national suckler herd and sheep flock, and the closure of countless small farms and rural businesses dependent on agriculture. This knock-on effect will be felt across every rural household and community.”

While the European Commission has hinted at creating a fund to compensate sectors hurt by an EU-Mercosur trade deal, Mr McNamara said this would solve nothing.  “Past experience has shown that compensation packages are rarely worth the paper they are written on for primary producers. We don’t want compensation – we want fair market access.” 

ICSA Beef chair John Cleary added, “The reality is that Mercosur could be finalised at the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro on 18-19 November, while Ireland may be operating under a dissolved government and in the midst of a general election. Time is running out, but we want to send a clear message that Irish farmers will not be sold out. ICSA led the charge against Mercosur as far back as 2016, and we are here now to show that our opposition will not waver, no matter which government takes office next. It is imperative that every candidate in the upcoming election knows where Irish farmers stand on this.”

Join us on 5 November to say NO to Mercosur and YES to the future of Irish farming.