An Taoiseach Simon Harris has said that the Mercosur deal, in its current format, is not fit for ratification.

Free trade is good for agriculture because 90% of what Irish farmers produce is exported, an Taoiseach said.

However, what is not good for Irish agriculture is if obligations and regulations are placed on Irish food producers but don't apply to people who get to import into the country, he said at the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) Farming for Food conference at the Curragh on Thursday 31 October.

"Ireland is now per capita the second largest contributor to the European budget, so we need to lift our heads and we need to remember that we no longer go to the European Union with a begging bowl, we go in as massive contributors to the budget and we'll have our voices heard," he said.

The Taoiseach added that Ireland is not alone in its concerns around Mercosur - the French and the Austrians have their concerns also.

It has the potential to wipe out our suckler herd

Speaking with concern from the floor, IFA Connacht chair Brendan Golden said that if the Mercosur deal went through, it would completely wipe out the suckler industry.

"Back to 2011 and multiple times previous to 2020, we have brought our concerns, through protest, to the offices of the European Commission in Dublin [and] also at a European level at every opportunity through our involvement with COPA.

"The problem I have is that we haven't been listened to and that's where my trust issues come in here. Any larger quotas of Mercuosr beef coming in here has the potential to wipe out our suckler herd and decimate our beef industry.

"[The] IFA will never agree to a Mercosur trade trade and we say absolutely no to this deal being ratified," Golden said.

An Taoiseach, in response, said that the conversation around Mercosur is still within our control.

"It's in national interest to make sure your sector does well because when your sector does well, our coffers do well and when our coffers do well, we can invest in our public services," he said.

He argued that he leads a party and Government that values farming and respects the essential contribution it makes to our success as a country.

"Farming is the backbone of the Irish economic model, it plays a massive role. It's bringing in and generating so much income and it's helping to fund our public services, helping us to be able to deliver the budget that we did only a few weeks ago and, of course, the effect and the benefit of farming is not just felt in rural Ireland - there's a multiplier effect. It's sustaining jobs and business right across this country," he said.