Yahoo Finance Irish beef industry to get ‘substantial amounts of money’ in event of no-deal Brexit
The Irish government will offer Ireland’s beef industry “substantial amounts of money” and relax state aid rules in the event of a no-deal Brexit, the country’s deputy prime minister said on Thursday.
Simon Coveney told Irish parliament that his government was “more than aware of the threats to the [Irish] beef sector” posed by a no-deal scenario.
The European Commission, he said, “has made it clear” that it will support the Irish beef sector “to ensure that it survives and comes through a Brexit transition.”
“If it comes to it, this government will not be found wanting to support and work with this sector, should a no-deal Brexit materialise,” Coveney remarked. “That will involve significant amounts of money and a relaxation of state aid rules that allows us to support this sector.”
Hypothesising about what tariffs the UK might apply to goods after a no-deal Brexit, Coveney said that the only thing that might differentiate Irish beef from that of other countries was its quality.
That, he said, is “not reassuring to Irish farmers.” Almost 50% of Irish beef exports go to the UK and around 70% of UK beef imports came from Ireland in 2018.
Reports in the Irish media have suggested that the UK is threatening to favour Brazilian beef over Irish using a system of tariffs and quotas, something that could result in low-priced beef flooding the market.
Word Trade Organisation tariffs are currently applied to Brazilian beef imports to the UK.
There has been a growing appetite for Brazilian beef across the world, with exporters in the country expecting China to drive demand to a record high in 2019.
