Don't sacrifice us for beef deal with Australia, Irish farmers warn
With formal negotiations between Canberra and Brussels restarting this month after a lengthy freeze, Irish farming leaders and political figures are demanding strict conditions on agricultural imports – particularly Australian beef – to ensure the deal does not undercut EU producers.
'We can't be anti-trade as Irish farmers – we export 90 per cent of our beef and 95 per cent of our dairy – but we need equivalence,' Irish Farmers' Association policy director Tadhg Buckley said. 'But we can't have a situation where products coming in ... didn't have to put up with the same level of regulation that we had.'
The proposed trade pact, launched in 2018, stalled in 2023 over access for Australian beef, lamb, dairy and sugar to the European market, as well as EU demands around geographic labelling protections and environmental safeguards. But officials on both sides are returning to negotiations after US President Donald Trump's global tariff war began.
Buckley said Irish farmers accepted the importance of global trade but rejected any deal that left them exposed to unfair competition, particularly hormone-treated beef from Australia.
'We do know … a significant chunk of Australian beef is hormone beef or has used hormones. I'm not saying it's unsafe ... but we can't see that coming into the EU because simply it would give that product a competitive advantage over Irish values,' he said.
An estimated 40 per cent of cattle in Australia is treated with growth promotants to boost weight gain in the animals, which can improve the efficiency of meat production by about 15 per cent. Using growth hormones in beef production has been banned in the EU since 1989.
'We just want equivalence of standards. We cannot have a situation where our EU negotiators just decide to sacrifice beef farmers for getting access to services in Australia or whatever.'
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