we're really being brought to our knees by the EU

tenchi-fan · 29-05-2011 09:44PM #1

Maybe I'm not fully clued-in when it comes to the economy of Ireland.

But isn't this a big deal: http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/business/coveney-to-defend-irish-beef-interests-at-eu-meeting-506840.html (EU plans to flood the common market with cheap Brazilian beef)

We're expecting our recovery to be led by exports and our low corporation tax rate. Are the EU negotiating this trade deal with Brazil to specifically hurt Ireland's exports, or are they at least hinting at this?

rorymcgrory · 29-05-2011 09:46PM

I heard Brazilian beef is nice. Never tried it though

n900guy · 29-05-2011 09:49PM

tenchi-fan wrote: »

Maybe I'm not fully clued-in when it comes to the economy of Ireland.

But isn't this a big deal: http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/business/coveney-to-defend-irish-beef-interests-at-eu-meeting-506840.html (EU plans to flood the common market with cheap Brazilian beef)

We're expecting our recovery to be led by exports and our low corporation tax rate. Are the EU negotiating this trade deal with Brazil to specifically hurt Ireland's exports, or are they at least hinting at this?

That is quite paranoid. Ireland should be positioning itself as an exporter of high quality beef sold at a premium, not competing with mass produced beef from south america. The EU is looking at food security for the greater population of almost half a billion EU citizens. iMHO, Ireland needs to sell the "Kobe Beef" of europe, high quality, premium products.

thebman · 30-05-2011 12:16AM

Well do we still have quotas on what we can produce or did we ever have any beef wise under CAP?

Surely we should insist that if this is a EU food shortage that we be allowed combat it ourselves.

I don't think that is the issue, I think European countries that aren't big beef producers want cheap beef and aren't thinking about anything else. Again showing no loyalty to the smaller EU member states.

beeftotheheels · 30-05-2011 12:27AM

tenchi-fan wrote: »

Maybe I'm not fully clued-in when it comes to the economy of Ireland.

But isn't this a big deal: http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/business/coveney-to-defend-irish-beef-interests-at-eu-meeting-506840.html (EU plans to flood the common market with cheap Brazilian beef)

We're expecting our recovery to be led by exports and our low corporation tax rate. Are the EU negotiating this trade deal with Brazil to specifically hurt Ireland's exports, or are they at least hinting at this?

Fair play, because whatever Eurocrat headed the GATT as it turned into the WTO clearly was a German, or a Frenchman, or failing all else a Fianna Failer. He could never have been a FG A-G who was, incidentally one of the most influential commissioners of all times and thus one of the few Irish politicians we could actually be proud of.

30-05-2011 12:33AM

n900guy wrote: »

That is quite paranoid. Ireland should be positioning itself as an exporter of high quality beef sold at a premium, not competing with mass produced beef from south america. The EU is looking at food security for the greater population of almost half a billion EU citizens. iMHO, Ireland needs to sell the "Kobe Beef" of europe, high quality, premium products.

We breed dairy cows, they are crap for beef - we export our meat to the middle east and north africa because its cheap crap.....the buy irish beef premium catchphrases are just cunning marketing.

Our dairy, however, is world class due to our climate.

Mal-Adjusted · 30-05-2011 12:50AM

you do realize that we export roughly half a million tonnes of beef a year, right?

http://fdii.ie/Sectors/FDII/FDII.nsf/vPages/Meat~Meat_Industry_Ireland~beef-export-statistics?OpenDocument
(a few years out of date, i know, but it shouldn't have varied by too much

99nsr125 · 30-05-2011 01:11AM

tenchi-fan wrote: »

Maybe I'm not fully clued-in when it comes to the economy of Ireland.

But isn't this a big deal: http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/business/coveney-to-defend-irish-beef-interests-at-eu-meeting-506840.html (EU plans to flood the common market with cheap Brazilian beef)

We're expecting our recovery to be led by exports and our low corporation tax rate. Are the EU negotiating this trade deal with Brazil to specifically hurt Ireland's exports, or are they at least hinting at this?

Brazilian beef is good, I've had it.

Our beef is better though.

autonomy · 30-05-2011 01:16AM

tenchi-fan wrote: »

Maybe I'm not fully clued-in when it comes to the economy of Ireland.

But isn't this a big deal: http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/business/coveney-to-defend-irish-beef-interests-at-eu-meeting-506840.html (EU plans to flood the common market with cheap Brazilian beef)

We're expecting our recovery to be led by exports and our low corporation tax rate. Are the EU negotiating this trade deal with Brazil to specifically hurt Ireland's exports, or are they at least hinting at this?

Support your local farmers

irishh_bob · 30-05-2011 09:10AM

Deleted User wrote: »

We breed dairy cows, they are crap for beef - we export our meat to the middle east and north africa because its cheap crap.....the buy irish beef premium catchphrases are just cunning marketing.

Our dairy, however, is world class due to our climate.

thier is plenty of good beef produced in ireland , thier are nearly a million suckler ( beef breed ) cows in ireland , that said , im not entirely convinced that south american beef is as inferior quality as the IFA would have us believe , brazilian beef might be suspect but argentinian and uruguayan beef is as good as anything in this country , ive been there myself , the tagline that south american beef is not as good due to the fact that they dont have the same level of tracability is a bit of a con , tracability is a bye word for beauracracy and paper trails , the main reason for all the beauracracy in farming in ireland is so thousands of civil servants have a job to go to , just because an angus heifer has more paperwork than an AL QAEEDA suspect on a CIA file , doesnt mean her prim rib will be any nicer than her equivelent running free in the pampas in argentina

ei.sdraob · 30-05-2011 09:10AM

autonomy wrote: »

Support your local farmers

What you think NAMA is for :P

Absurdum · 30-05-2011 09:45AM

anyone know what is in this trade deal for the EU?

Scofflaw · 30-05-2011 04:41PM

Not looking all that likely, apparently:

“Ten days ago, I was convinced a deal was on the cards within six weeks” said Irish Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney during a conference on Tuesday in Dublin. “But now I think it is unlikely that there will be a deal before the end of the year.”

Coveney said that powerful countries such as France were even more opposed to a Mercosur deal than the Irish.

The minister added: “You don't get things done in Brussels by banging the table and making demands. I'm going to focus on building alliances so that we have allies around the table.”

Precisely regarding CAP (Common Agriculture Policy) reform, Coveney said that Ireland was well positioned to defend its national envelope. He added that Ireland “had already formed alliances with France and Spain on this issue of average payment per hectare”.

EU and Mercosur had a last round of negotiations in Brussels earlier this month and apparently one of the few things on which the two sides could agree is to meet again next May in Asunción, Paraguay that currently holds the rotating chair of the South American trade block.

A strong statement from the European Parliament (in support of the farm lobby) demanding the terms of any trade agreement with Mercosur to be scrutinized by Strasbourg, have severely conditioned the European Commission negotiators’ margin of action, according to Mercosur diplomatic sources.

Those wishing to revile the French unconditionally may find it slightly difficult (but hopefully not actually confusing) that our main ally here is Sarkozy:

“I can’t accept and I won’t accept” such an agreement said Sarkozy during a visit to the north of France, adding that farm produce from Mercosur does not comply with the same norms that are demanded from European farmers.

Sarkozy said he favoured free trade but on similar conditions, and pointed out that “why should we accept produce that does not comply with the set of norms and regulations imposed on our farmers?”

Further on he mentioned recent reports from EU farm lobbies and endorsed by the EU parliament which indicate that a trade agreement with Mercosur could mean a 20% to 25% fall in income for farmers and “I imagine Mercosur country members must understand there must be a limit” to such losses.

According to a recent assessment from the European Commission released last month, a free trade agreement with Mercosur, --negotiations for which begun eleven years ago and where only re-launched in May 2010--, would be globally beneficial for the European Union, although it would mean losses for agriculture and the farming sector.

cordially,
Scofflaw

thebman · 30-05-2011 06:58PM

irishh_bob wrote: »

thier is plenty of good beef produced in ireland , thier are nearly a million suckler ( beef breed ) cows in ireland , that said , im not entirely convinced that south american beef is as inferior quality as the IFA would have us believe , brazilian beef might be suspect but argentinian and uruguayan beef is as good as anything in this country , ive been there myself , the tagline that south american beef is not as good due to the fact that they dont have the same level of tracability is a bit of a con , tracability is a bye word for beauracracy and paper trails , the main reason for all the beauracracy in farming in ireland is so thousands of civil servants have a job to go to , just because an angus heifer has more paperwork than an AL QAEEDA suspect on a CIA file , doesnt mean her prim rib will be any nicer than her equivelent running free in the pampas in argentina

Not really, traceability standards are so if recalls need to be done for safety reasons such as food contamination, we can guarantee the food we have shipped is safe and recall if we need to without doing massive, large scale recalls because we aren't sure which producers beef is contaminated.

Argue with the implementation but that is the goal. Realistically if producers cared about the safety of the food they sell, they would develop such systems themselves and we wouldn't need to enforce the standards with checks like this.

bbam · 30-05-2011 08:04PM

Deleted User wrote: »

We breed dairy cows, they are crap for beef - we export our meat to the middle east and north africa because its cheap crap.....the buy irish beef premium catchphrases are just cunning marketing.

Our dairy, however, is world class due to our climate.

Yes our dairy is top class... But our beef industry is also top class for the same reason. Irish farming is a grass based system making it's produce of the best quality..

Often what makes our (or any) beef seem of poor quality is the way it is processed.. The supermarket multiples are insisting on fast turn around from slaughter to plate, this is bad for consumers... Beef needs to be hung for 30 days after slaughter to allow it mature...

Also for commercial and export reasons we often breed the beef that our foreign customers want, there are better breeds for tasty beef... Angus or Hereford are particularly tasty without going for more exotic breeds.

johnnyskeleton · 30-05-2011 08:13PM

Deleted User wrote: »

We breed dairy cows, they are crap for beef - we export our meat to the middle east and north africa because its cheap crap.....the buy irish beef premium catchphrases are just cunning marketing.

Our dairy, however, is world class due to our climate.

You've obviously never been to a good Irish butcher.

SupaNova · 31-05-2011 08:53AM

Argue with the implementation but that is the goal. Realistically if producers cared about the safety of the food they sell, they would develop such systems themselves and we wouldn't need to enforce the standards with checks like this.

Producers do care about the food they sell because their future sales are dependent on it. I doubt traceability does anything to increase quality. I wonder if their was any study done regarding food standards before FSA and since their establishment. No doubt if there was a study conducted and there was no improvement i am sure they would call for more resources the same as any other self serving government agency.

autonomy · 31-05-2011 02:32PM

were being brought to out knees, bent over, and spit-roasted by the EU and the Irish government

thebman · 31-05-2011 04:10PM

SupaNova wrote: »

Producers do care about the food they sell because their future sales are dependent on it. I doubt traceability does anything to increase quality. I wonder if their was any study done regarding food standards before FSA and since their establishment. No doubt if there was a study conducted and there was no improvement i am sure they would call for more resources the same as any other self serving government agency.

Never said anything about quality. I said safety.

If there is an outbreak of disease in some Irish farms, it would be preferable for the food safety authorities to know which batches are contaminated from which farms so they can just destroy those instead of what went on with the foot and mouth disease problem.

That affects the entire industry but the industry hasn't been able to agree on a standard and enforce it for food traceability.

Consumers feel safer knowing their food is traceable I'm sure so why didn't they introduce such a system? It helps them market their products if nothing else.

The Scientician · 31-05-2011 04:37PM

Won't someone think of the rainforests!

Icepick · 31-05-2011 05:20PM

Yeah, how dare they let the consumer choose.

ardmacha · 31-05-2011 05:23PM

The current e-coli deaths illustrate the value of traceability.

azzie · 31-05-2011 05:33PM

There's quite often Irish beef in our local French supermarket, and it's priced competitively against local beef eg recently chine (rib roast) joints at €8,50 per kilo. Is that about the same price as in Ireland?

we're really being brought to our knees by the EU

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