Beef Sector
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-14
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Martin Heydon (FG), Kildare South

I welcome the removal of Brazil from the list of approved countries. It is a result of the pressure that my colleagues on the Council of Ministers and I have been bringing to bear. In January, we had a meeting with Commissioner Šefčovič, the Commissioner for trade, Commissioner Hansen, the Commissioner for agriculture, and Commissioner Várhelyi, who is responsible for animal health and welfare. We made it very clear to them, and we have always said, that the sanitary and phytosanitary, SPS, food safety standards of beef coming into Europe are non-negotiable. The challenges around Mercosur were environmental in terms of our difficulties with the agreement. From the perspective of food safety, antimicrobial resistance and so on, that is non-negotiable in Europe. We saw products being found and recalled. We now see this move being made, which is very important and I strongly support.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:56+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-14