An Irish MEP has called for an assessment to be carried out on the combined effects of EU trade deals on Irish beef and sheep farmers.

Midlands North-West MEP Ciaran Mullooly has said new trade deals with Australia and the Mercosur countries should not be voted on in the European Parliament until this evaluation is carried out.

The European Commission has confirmed that the controversial EU-Mercosur trade agreement will be provisionally applied from May 1.

This week, the EU and Australia signed a free trade agreement following almost a decade of negotiations.

Trade deals

Independent Ireland MEP Ciaran Mullooly believes "serious concerns remain for Irish beef and sheep farmers - particularly when the wider impact of multiple trade agreements is taken into account".

"As usual, the devil is in the detail on these issues and I have to firstly go through the overall situation before giving a considered response to something like this," he said.

Under the EU-Australia Free Trade Agreement (FTA), Australia will be able to export 30,600t of beef to the EU, with 55% entering duty-free and subject to a 'grass-fed' conditionality.

The remaining 45% or 13,770t is to be imported with a reduced duty of 7.5%.

The EU will also open two tariff rate quotas for sheep and goat meat of a total of 25,000t to be imported duty-free, with a smaller portion (27%) limited to frozen meat.

While acknowledging that the figures "may not appear as striking as those seen in other agreements", Mullooly said "the broader picture is what matters most".

"These figures mightn’t jump out the way the Mercosur deal jumped out and why we put up such resistance and continue to put up resistance to that in terms of the final vote coming up next year.

"It’s the commutative effect of these trade deals that concerns me," he said

"You have to wonder about the effect on the market for beef farmers, Irish farmers and sheep farmers. That’s my principal concern here," the MEP added.

Assessment

Mullooly has called on the European Commission to undertake "a full and transparent analysis" of how these trade agreements interact with each other.

"There is an added concern that Australia already has a trade deal in place with the UK, giving it growing access to the British market - a key outlet for Irish beef and sheep farmers," he said.