Mercosur Trade Agreement: Motion [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-13
============================================================

Cathy Bennett (SF), Cavan-Monaghan

Sinn Féin and others sought the Government to formally express its opposition to this deal and it refused. Instead, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael spoke of safeguards that we know to be worthless. The following year, the Government endorsed the reappointment of the Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen. She executed the stroke the Government parties empowered her to use under the Lisbon treaty and stripped Ireland of its veto. Still, the possibility remained that a blocking minority could be formed in Europe of those states not willing to sacrifice their farmers' livelihoods or the environment in favour of German car manufacturers. Did the Government kick into gear then?

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

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