Beef Sector
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-19
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Martin Kenny (SF), Sligo-Leitrim

We appreciate that there has been some progress made but we still have a situation where there is no traceability whatsoever with animals, particularly in Brazil. When a calf is born in Ireland it has to be tagged almost immediately. There have to be full checks and records of any medicine or antibiotics it receives. Everything has to be written down and accounted for. They have to meet all the standards. In fact, even the foodstuffs have to be recorded. A farmer told me recently that more records are kept on your calf than on your child in this country to ensure their safety. We recognise that European farmers are meeting a high standard.
The farms in Brazil do not meet those standards. Tagging is practically unknown and in some cases, if one of the small number of animals that are tagged dies, the tag is removed from its ear and put on another's. That is the way the system works. It is a complete wild west, as far as anyone can see. To suggest that somehow or other Brazilian farmers are going to meet the standard in the short term is ridiculous. It is not going to happen. I ask again that the Government commit that the date in September is brought forward and that we ban this substance now.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:46+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-19