Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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111. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will oppose the Mercosur trade deal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [66427/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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The Programme for Government is clear, whereby it includes a commitment to “work with like-minded EU countries to stand up for Irish farmers and defend our interests in opposing the current Mercosur trade deal”.

Along with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, who has lead responsibility for trade policy, I have actively engaged with both the European Commission and with other Member States across the EU to voice these and other concerns in relation to the EU-Mercosur Agreement.

During these engagements, we have repeatedly emphasised Ireland’s requirements for credible, legally-binding commitments on matters relating to trade and sustainable development, including climate, biodiversity, and deforestation protections.

We have repeatedly emphasised that beef in particular is a very sensitive sector, which is vulnerable to negative impacts from the Mercosur agreement. The Government has concerns on the preferential access being given to Mercosur if South American farmers are not subject to the same sustainable farming standards as our own farmers.

Since my appointment as Minister earlier this year, I have raised these concerns at Agri-Fish Council meetings and also with like-minded Member States through bilateral meetings on the margins of these Council meetings. In recent months, I have met with my French, Italian, Austrian, Latvian and Polish counterparts to exchange views.

It is still not clear at this stage whether there is a blocking minority in Council, as this requires at least four MS representing over 35% of the EU population to vote against or abstain. This would require all of the three large MS with concerns (Poland, Italy and France) to oppose in order to meet the population requirement.

Ireland's position on the EU-Mercosur Agreement remains as clearly outlined in the Programme for Government and we will continue to engage with like-minded Member States and at the appropriate EU fora