Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon has said that other countries that do not meet Irish and EU food safety standards should not have their products imported into Europe.

“Mercosur had a lot of discussions around standards and that was the environmental standards, that we knew Brazil is not at the same level of, but the trade deal, the proposal was to try and bring up their standards over time with that.

“What was never on the table was SPS standards, they are non-negotiable. Our food safety standards are non-negotiable.

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"If anybody imports into Europe and can’t give the same verification that our farmers are expected to have, then they shouldn’t have product in here, so it’s the right call,” he said.

Opportunity for Irish beef in Europe

When asked if the ban of Brazilian beef in the EU from Thursday provides an opportunity for Irish beef across Europe, Minister Heydon agreed it does.

“Irish beef has a really strong position in Europe; we have a really strong position in all of our trusted markets.

"That’s why earlier in August I was in the UK, which is our most important market, bar none. In terms of beef production, making sure we never take for granted any of those markets that were in, I very much welcome the [European] Commission intervention here on Brazilian beef.”