{"id":338690,"date":"2026-03-10T11:48:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T11:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/338690\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T11:48:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T11:48:08","slug":"most-awful-betrayal-mayo-td-says-as-brazilian-beef-imports-to-ireland-rise-800-over-a-decade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/338690\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cMost awful betrayal\u201d Mayo TD says as Brazilian beef imports to Ireland rise 800% over a decade"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mayo<\/a> TD Paul Lawless said new data shows that 40,000 tonnes of beef were imported into Ireland last year, the highest annual figure recorded in the past ten years.<\/p>\n

That is an 800 percent increase in imports of Brazilian beef into Ireland over the past decade, according to figures released to the Aont\u00fa TD.<\/p>\n

Deputy Lawless said the statistics also show a sharp rise in imports from Brazil. In 2016, just 22 tonnes of Brazilian beef were imported into Ireland, while last year that figure rose to 172 tonnes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe huge increase in the amount of beef imported into Ireland is shocking and worrying,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Deputy Lawless also criticised the Government\u2019s handling of issues relating to beef imports and trade negotiations linked to the proposed Mercosur Trade Agreement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0\u20ac5m allocated to adapt homes for older people and people with disabilities in Mayo<\/a><\/p>\n

He said Irish farmers were already in a vulnerable position due to concerns about potential competition from South American producers and the possible impact on the European beef market.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was proud to travel to Strasbourg with Aont\u00fa to assist farmers in lobbying MEPs<\/a> to vote to send Mercosur to the European Court,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe won that vote by a small margin, but the Government, supposedly against the deal, was nowhere to be seen in that campaign and indeed a number of Government party MEPs voted against farmers on that day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deputy Lawless also referred to controversy surrounding Bord Bia and its chair Larry Murrin<\/a>, who he said had been linked to imports of Brazilian beef into Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo learn that beef was entering the Irish market, and that some of it was being brought in by Larry Murrin represented the most awful betrayal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0\u20ac80,000 allocated to support nine agricultural shows across Mayo<\/a><\/p>\n

The TD also raised concerns about transparency around imported beef<\/a>, claiming that more than 5,300 tonnes had entered Ireland over the past decade from countries whose identities he said have not been disclosed by the Minister.<\/p>\n

He said he intends to raise further questions at the Oireachtas Agriculture Committee regarding the origin, safety testing and labelling of Brazilian beef imported since 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to know where it was sold, what tests it went through to ensure it was safe, what labelling was applied and what percentage of it was imported by Larry Murrin\u2019s company during that period,\u201d Deputy Lawless said.<\/p>\n

He added that he would continue to press the issue on behalf of Irish farmers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n

ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n

ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n

ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n

ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n

ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n

ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n

ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n

ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mayo TD Paul Lawless said new data shows that 40,000 tonnes of beef were imported into Ireland last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3810,61,60,8764,43,47263],"class_list":["post-338690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-agriculture","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mayo","tag-news","tag-paul-lawless"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}