Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The agricultural community has serious concerns about TTIP. When one looks at the type of regulation in the US involving the use of hormones, one can see that it is completely different to what the EU is used to. I believe that we will move towards the US model. Between hormones and all the different things they are using in the US, anyone who ever visited there will know that unless you get a bit of Irish meat, some of the meat out there is brutal. It is widely acknowledged not by me but by different farming organisations that if this goes ahead, it will put the farming community, particularly small family farms, under severe threat. Do we want that to happen? When we joined the EU, we had 300,000 farmers. Now we have 100,000 or 110,000. Do we want to wipe it out because of TTIP?

It is acknowledged that given the way this is going, Ireland will be shafted when it comes to multinationals because with the joined-up partnership between the EU and the US, they can sidestep Ireland. We need to be wise to this. The IDA is trying to bring in multinationals. It is known that it is expressing real concerns about it. Why do we not listen to these, acknowledge what is going on and stall the ball until things are done properly? I would be very much opposed to it.

Looking at the figures, SMEs would be under threat as well. We must look at the overall picture around the world. Something is not right about big corporate entities being able to take a government to court. Smaller countries like Ireland will suffer.

Everything needs to be gone through line by line. It would not be good for Ireland to be part of TTIP. Europe is negotiating it but we should have a veto, some way of pulling the plug on it. Many Members of the European Parliament opposed it in their debates on it. Something is wrong when that comes from all sides in politics. Approximately 3.5 million people have signed the petition. They have not done that for the craic. Politicians everywhere have a responsibility to listen to people. There is no point regretting something we did wrong. Let us make sure we do something right. The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation needs to go to the European Commission and express the concerns of the Irish people and consider the fact of what this will do to our country. Do we want to be in a market where we are overpowered? We are not able to control one beef baron in this country, never mind taking on a country that will hammer us in the meat industry, especially one of the strongest countries in the world.

Governments around Europe tend to agree with whatever the European Commission says it is doing. The day has come to call a halt to that and make sure that we represent our people and country, not big corporate interests and not to fall into the hands of America. We can do deals with America. We export a lot of goods to America and there is no problem doing so. Why then are we going down this other road, putting so much at risk? We should stop it now. The EU is trying to take away many of our powers but we should use whatever power or veto we have to block this.

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