Mercosur Trade Agreement: Motion [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-13
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Conor D. McGuinness (SF), Waterford

On the eve of ratification, the Government has performed a dramatic U-turn, knowing there will be no cost to doing so for a domestic audience, to try to save face somewhat. It has suddenly claimed to oppose the deal. The members of the Government parties, including Ministers, and Irish Government representatives in Brussels previously spoke in favour of Mercosur. Let us not rewrite the record here. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have been championing this deal for many years, speaking from both sides of their mouths. Nobody has changed their position on this except the Government, but we all see that the emperor has no clothes and that the about-face in the media last week was nothing more than playing to a domestic agenda. However, nobody is falling for it. Rural communities are not, nor is the Irish farming industry.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-13/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:30+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-13