Aontú Bill Seeking To Protect Beef Farmers Defeated By Small Margin in Dáil

Aontú Bill Seeking To Protect Beef Farmers Defeated By Small Margin in Dáil - Tóibín

The Equitable Beef Pricing Bill introduced by Peadar Tóibín of Aontú has been defeated in what was the last vote of the 33rd Dáil. There were 69 votes against the Bill, and 57 votes in favour.

Speaking today Deputy Tóibín said: "I am extremely disappointed that the last voting act of this government was to vote against my Bill seeking to protect beef farmers from exploitation. Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Greens used their final vote of this Dáil to slap rural Ireland in the face. The beef sector is never far from crisis. The beef market is distorted and dysfunctional. It’s asymmetric. Factories have enormous buyer power while farmers have practically no supplier power. A small number of factories and supermarket multiples are making hundreds of millions of euro of profit on the backs of the poverty and debt of Beef Farmers".

Deputy Tóibín continued: “This is unfair and unsustainable and is pushing farmers off the land around the country. All this is happening in the context of the EU Mercosur Trade Deal which will represent the final nail on the coffin of the Irish beef farmer. The deal makes no environmental sense and will see Irish beef farmers shafted by the EU in favour of substandard South American beef, where deforestation, forest fires and overgrazing are all part of the agricultural method, not to mention the huge carbon cost of importing that beef to Europe".

“We in Aontú want to ensure that there is a fair distribution of profit within the beef supply chain in Ireland. We want to see an industry where all components are successful. We want to ensure that we have food security into the future. We also want to see a rural Ireland that’s alive and prospering. Our Bill sought a Ban on Below Cost Selling in the Beef industry. It is very disappointing that the three parties in government used, what was for many of their TDs their last vote in the Dáil, to block this legislation. Its a sad day for rural Ireland", concluded the Aontú leader.

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