With a year to go to ‘Brexit Day’, March 29, 2019, IFA President Joe Healy has warned that rapid progress in the withdrawal agreement negotiations is needed to avoid a disastrous no-deal scenario and UK cheap food policy.
“While the transition period agreed earlier this month gives some certainty, that will only apply if agreement is reached on all other matters by October and approved within the next 12 months. Otherwise, we reach a cliff edge drop into the unknown that would be disastrous for all sides,” Joe Healy said.
In the discussions on the future relationship between the EU and the UK, the key area of trade is vital for Irish farmers, Joe Healy continued:
“It is clear that the agri-food sector is set to become a major battleground in the negotiations on the future relationship between the EU and the UK. The Irish Government must prioritise our requirement that the UK maintains full regulatory alignment with the EU’s standards and common external tariff in the area of agriculture and food. Full regulatory alignment is necessary to avoid a hard border and deliver the closest possible trading relationship between the EU and the UK, which is an outcome both sides have prioritised.
“The ideal solution is for the UK to remain in the Single Market and Customs Union. Short of this, we need an agreed framework whereby the UK remains fully aligned to European standards and trade policy. Our objective must be no border on the island of Ireland and no border in the Irish Sea. Otherwise, farm incomes will be hit and thousands of jobs lost in rural Ireland.”
MET WITH U.K. FARM LEADERS
The IFA President met with UK farm leaders last week to discuss shared concerns about the implications of Brexit on the Irish and UK agri-food sectors and to co-ordinate the approach of farm leaders to the negotiations.
He said it is clear that Irish and UK farmers are absolutely united in the desire to avoid a hard border and in their view that it would be devastating for farmers and very bad for consumers if the UK was to cut its standards and aim for a cheap food policy.
The meeting was attended by Minette Batters, NFU President; Barclay Bell, UFU President; John Davies, NFU Wales President and Andrew McCornick, NFU Scotland President.
Joe Healy said there is a strong view among all the farm leaders that farming and food issues must be at to the top of the list in Brexit negotiations considerations.
He said that as well as maintaining the closest possible tariff-free trading relationship for agri-food with the UK, it is important that an agreement is reached that maintains the value of the UK market for Irish farmers.
“We need to avoid a scenario where the British market is open to cheaper, inferior food products such as Brazilian beef, hormoned US beef or chlorinated chicken that displace or undermine our high quality Irish food exports produced to the highest EU standards.”
