800% increase in amount of Brazilian Beef Imported into Ireland over ten years – Lawless 

Data released to Aontú TD for Mayo, Paul Lawless, shows that 40,000 tonnes of beef was imported into Ireland last year, a figure higher than any of the previous ten years. The amount of beef imported into Ireland from Brazil last year also reached a record high.

Speaking today, Deputy Lawless said: “The huge increase in the amount of beef imported into Ireland is shocking and worrying. We can see from the figures that in 2016 some 22 tonnes of beef was brought into Ireland from Brazil. Last year the figure stood at 172 tonnes – representing an 800% increase in the amount of beef imported from Brazil over the past decade. The scandal with Bord Bia has not been adequately addressed, the government have shown no remorse for their lack of lobbying to oppose Mercosur or for their constant defence of Larry Murrin”.

Deputy Lawless continued: “This government has been rude and cold towards farmers over the past few months. I was proud to travel to Strasbourg with Aontú to assist farmers in lobbying MEPs to vote to send Mercosur to the European Court. We won that vote by a small margin, but the government, supposedly against the deal, was nowhere to be seen in that campaign and indeed a number of government party MEPs voted against farmers on that day. Then this scandal broke in relation to Brazilian beef being brought into the country by the chair of Bord Bia, the entity responsible for promoting Irish beef”.

“Beef farmers in this country were already in a vulnerable position, with the knowledge that our beef market in Europe was under threat. To learn then that beef was entering the Irish market, and that some of it was being brought in by Larry Murrin represented the most awful betrayal. The Minister and government as a whole do not seem to comprehend these facts. They have not apologised to farmers nor have they even said they understand why farmers are angry. They’ve treated farmers with contempt and defended Murrin to the tilt. What the statistics released to me show is that the quantity of Brazilian beef entering even our own Irish market is increasing rapidly each year”.

“What effect will Mercosur have on even the Irish beef market in Ireland? I have major questions about this – in particular about the fact that a total of 5,345 tonnes of beef was imported into Ireland in the past ten years from countries, the names of which the Minister is refusing to release to me. In relation to the more than 500 tonnes of beef imported here from Brazil since 2016 I want to know where it was sold, what tests was it put through to ensure it was safe, and what labelling was applied to the packages in which it was sold, and what percentage of it was imported by Larry Murrin’s company during that period. I look forward to asking these questions at the Oireachtas Agriculture Committee on which I sit”, concluded Lawless.

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For Written Answer on : 24/02/2026
Question Number(s): 826 Question Reference(s): 14575/26
Department: Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Asked by: Paul Lawless T.D.
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QUESTION

To ask the Minister for Agriculture; Food and the Marine the quantity, in tonnes, of beef or beef products imported into the State in each of the past ten years, by country of origin, in tabular form.

REPLY

The table below details the volume in tonnes of beef imports by origin in the ten years since 2016, as reported by Central Statistics Office (CSO) trade statistics.