Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 24 September 2025

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food

Impact of Trade Deals on Agriculture: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

2:00 am

Ms Sinéad McPhillips:

Yes, that would be the trade ministers, so in our case the Tánaiste. For the qualified majority vote, a blocking minority would be required to prevent adoption of the agreement by the Council of trade ministers. That requires at least four member states representing more than 35% of the EU population either voting against or abstaining on the proposal.