Delegates from Laois IFA were front and centre at the protest against proposals to offer Brazil and other South American countries further access to the EU market for beef and poultry.
Included in the delegation, which was led by Laois IFA chairman Francie Gorman, were Pat Hennessy, Jer Bergin, Seamus Delaney, John Dollard, Mary Booth and many IFA members from around the county.
The protest was held outside the EU Commission offices in Dublin over the EU Commission’s proposal to open the markets as part of the Mercosur trade negotiations.
IFA President Joe Healy said the latest EU FVO (Food and Veterinary Office) report covering the Weak Flesh meat scandal and corruption in Brazil confirms that the Brazilian authorities seriously misled the EU Commission, and cannot guarantee European consumers that meat products exported to the EU have been produced in accordance with EU requirements.
Mr Healy said this latest EU report completely undermines any credibility to the arguments being made in the Mercosur trade negotiations that Brazil will ever meet EU production standards on beef and other meat imports.
The IFA President said the findings from this EU report back up previous IFA calls for a ban on Brazil meat imports following the Weak Flesh scandal.
The report states that ‘the Brazilian Competent Authority is not in a position to guarantee that the relevant export requirements are met’.
In addition the reports states ‘the Competent Authorities are signing export reports certificates despite being unable to ascertain the veracity of certain statements therein’.
IFA National Livestock Chairman Angus Woods said the report highlights that commitments and guarantees given by the authorities in Brazil are considered as ‘not reliable’ by the FVO.
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