Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Three years ago, the Dáil voted in favour of a Sinn Féin motion which described the proposed Mercosur trade agreement as a bad deal for Ireland and for the planet. Both Fianna Fáil and the Green Party supported this motion which mandated future governments to reject this deal at a European level. This agreement would flood the European market with 100,000 tonnes of South American beef produced at a cost of up to twice the carbon footprint of Irish beef. As the Taoiseach knows, the European Ombudsman found that the Commission's failure to complete a sustainability impact assessment of the agreement constituted maladministration. The Tánaiste said the Government is seeking further enforceable commitments, as he called them, regarding climate and deforestation while Brazil has announced an expansion of its production equivalent to Ireland's national herd by 2031. Surely Brazil can provide no commitment sufficient to allay the insurmountable, unsustainability of this deal. When the Taoiseach attends the European Council later this week, I ask him to formally communicate Ireland's opposition and make it clear that we will neither support nor ratify this deeply flawed agreement.

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