Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent)

I am returning to an issue I tabled as a Commencement matter yesterday regarding the important decisions being made today at the European Council in respect of a new proposed trading agreement between the EU and Morocco. Sadly, the information I received in answer to the Commencement matter yesterday was actually inaccurate in that I was told the issue was still being negotiated. I asked what position Ireland would be taking and was told it was still being negotiated when in fact, negotiations had concluded. This raises its own questions because we were told the mandate to negotiate was given by the Council to the Commission on 10 September and the negotiations, we were told, were concluded on 18 September. That means that in a one-week period the Council was finally given a mandate, prior to which it had no mandate to act, and then magically concluded this entire trade agreement in one week. Yet when I asked about it, I was told negotiations are ongoing. In fact, we have been told negotiations have been concluded, with severe question marks over them, and the decision on signing is today.