{"id":234370,"date":"2026-01-08T14:58:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T14:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/234370\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T14:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T14:58:08","slug":"ireland-will-vote-against-mercosur-trade-deal-taoiseach-and-tanaiste-confirm-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/234370\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland will vote against Mercosur trade deal, Taoiseach and T\u00e1naiste confirm \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Government will vote against the Mercosur<\/a> trade deal, the Taoiseach and T\u00e1naiste have confirmed.<\/p>\n

The European Union<\/a> is to vote on Friday on the contentious trade deal<\/a> with the Mercosur countries of Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay.<\/p>\n

Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a> confirmed while on an official visit to China that Ireland will vote no to the deal. <\/p>\n

Speaking in Shanghai, Mr Martin said the concessions made to allay the concerns of Irish farmers about the deal were inadequate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to be confident that the standards that we have set now and the obligations based on Irish and European farmers are not undermined by food production systems that are not as carbon efficient and that are not don\u2019t have the same stringent standards,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo in the round, acknowledging that progress has been made in terms of the safeguards, both the market safeguards and the pesticide issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut in terms of that basic issue around the obligations and standards for Irish farmers, our sense is that we don\u2019t have confidence that they won\u2019t be undercut. So the Government will be voting no.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Taoiseach said that Irish farmers had been asked to take big steps to make agriculture more carbon efficient and that they should not have to face competition from countries with lower climate standards.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe now have one of the most carbon efficient food production systems in the world. And we put in a lot of regulations, rightly so, that are very stringent in respect to consumer protection, food safety, carbon efficiency, climate protection measures,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris also said in a statement that the Government\u2019s position \u201cstill stands\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Government\u2019s position on Mercosur has always been clear: we did not support the deal in the form in which it was presented,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Ireland\u2019s rejection of Mercosur sees Coalition concerns trump EU politicsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

What is the Mercosur trade deal? <\/p>\n

The largest trade deal negotiated by the EU<\/a>, the agreement with four South American Mercosur<\/a> countries (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) would see import duties phased out on 91 per cent of EU goods. In return, these countries could sell goods to the EU with fewer restrictions. <\/p>\n

Who is for and against it? <\/p>\n

Fans of the deal say it offers access to new markets and helps combat Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs. In Ireland, France and Poland, farmers fear more beef coming into the EU. <\/p>\n

The programme for government codifies Ireland\u2019s opposition to the deal, committing the Coalition to \u201cwork with like-minded EU countries\u201d in opposing Mercosur. <\/p>\n

He, the Taoiseach, Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon and Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee have been engaging closely with \u201clike-minded countries that share our concerns\u201d and have been \u201cworking constructively to secure additional safeguards that would address the very real concerns of our citizens\u201d, he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, the outcome in this negotiation is that although the EU has agreed to a number of additional measures, they are not sufficient to satisfy our citizens.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo our position stands. We will vote against the agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking later outside Government Buildings in Dublin, Mr Harris noted that while the agreement is expected to be ratified in the vote of the European Council on Friday, it would also need to be ratified by the European Parliament.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the system would want to be very careful in taking for granted the views of the democratically elected representatives of citizens here in Ireland and right across the European Union, who will have to have their say on this as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cTomorrow is not the end of the matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision-making process will also necessitate, quite rightly, that the European Parliament has its say as well, and that work will continue, and there will be an opportunity for Irish MEPs, and MEPs right across the EU, to continue to engage, grapple and give their verdict.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he had spoken with Fine Gael MEPs on Thursday and discussed how to \u201cmaximise\u201d safeguards if the EU-Mercosur deal is passed.<\/p>\n

Asked how Ireland\u2019s position would affect its stance in the European Union, Mr Harris said Ireland did \u201cgrapple intensively\u201d with the issue but ultimately had to \u201cstand by our word\u201d.<\/p>\n

Independent politicians including junior ministers and TDs backing the Government have said Ireland is taking the \u201cright decision\u201d in the plan to vote against the deal.<\/p>\n

Independent junior ministers like Se\u00e1n Canney, Michael Healy-Rae and Marian Harkin have been vocal in their opposition to Mercosur.<\/p>\n

In a statement on Thursday the group of Independents \u2013 which also includes TDs who are not Ministers like Michael Lowry and Danny Healy-Rae \u2013 said they believe \u201cIreland is taking the right position at EU level to protect national interests, uphold environmental commitments, and safeguard Irish agriculture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Minister of State for Agriculture Michael Healy-Rae denied that he threatened to withdraw support for the Government over the Mercosur deal.<\/p>\n

Speaking on RT\u00c9 Radio\u2019s Today with David McCullagh show, Mr Healy-Rae said: \u201cThis has been a culmination of a lot of work and it\u2019s in keeping with the programme for government.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Coalition is \u201cdoing what it said on the tin\u201d and will be \u201cabsolutely totally opposed to the Mercosur deal as it was presented\u201d, Mr Healy-Rae said. <\/p>\n

\u201cOther European countries are wavering and so be it, but we are steadfast in supporting Irish farmers.\u201d <\/p>\n

Mr Healy-Rae said he had not threatened to \u201cpull the plug\u201d on the Government. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t do threats because that\u2019s nonsense. We\u2019re serious politicians,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re about the long-term longevity of a government so that we can deliver on all of the different range of issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are growing expectations that the deal will be approved on Friday with support from the Italian government. With Rome voting in favour, a blocking minority of European states \u2013 which must consist of at least four member states and 35 per cent of the EU population \u2013 cannot be assembled.<\/p>\n

If that were to come to pass, an Irish vote against the deal would be symbolic, and risk burning political capital in Brussels.<\/p>\n

Hungary\u2019s foreign minister P\u00e9ter Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 confirmed Viktor Orb\u00e1n\u2019s far-right government would also vote against the deal, as they had flagged earlier. \u201cBrussels is once again ignoring the interests of our farmers,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Poland is also expected to vote against the deal. The French government, who has previously been critical proposed safeguards for farmers do not go far enough, has yet to reveal how they will vote on Friday. <\/p>\n

Germany, Spain and a large number of other EU states are supportive of the trade deal, which they see as a way to open up a big new market for European businesses and producers. <\/p>\n

Italy looks set to support the agreement, a swing vote that would likely deliver a big enough majority in the EU to approve the trade deal. <\/p>\n

In a statement, Italy\u2019s foreign minister Antonio Tajani said his government had always been in favour of the deal being signed, once \u201cadequate safeguards\u201d were in place to protect farmers. \u201cThe EU-Mercosur agreement has enormous benefits and potential,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

European Commission spokesman Olof Gill said EU officials negotiated \u201clike hell\u201d to make sure any new trade deals had safeguards to protect vulnerable agricultural sectors. <\/p>\n

Speaking in Brussels, Mr Gill said Europe\u2019s agri-food industry enjoyed a significant trade surplus, in part thanks to previous free trade deals. \u201cWe sell \u20ac60 billion worth more of stuff than we buy from our partners around the world, that\u2019s an astonishingly successful statistic from any economic metric,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve made the case for the Mercosur agreement \u2026 We believe it is an essential deal, economically, politically, strategically, diplomatically, for the European Union,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Government will vote against the Mercosur trade deal, the Taoiseach and T\u00e1naiste have confirmed. The European Union…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234371,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[114,42,1843,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-234370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-china","tag-headlines","tag-micheal-martin","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}