Mercosur Trade Agreement: Motion [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-13
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Martin Kenny (SF), Sligo-Leitrim

It is a contradiction if the Government says it wants to improve the deal but it is also saying to the same people it also wants to block it. The Government cannot do both and we all know that. We hear it back. We do not live in a vacuum. We hear what goes on in the country and we hear what goes on in Europe also. The truth is, on one side of the Minister of State's mouth over here he was saying he wants to block the deal but when he went out to Europe and European meetings were happening with Irish officials they were wishy-washy, saying well, if we could improve this and if this little thing could be done it might help.
It was all about getting the deal improved so that it could be palatable for the Irish Government to sell. That is exactly what was being done. The Taoiseach, when he was in China the other day, thought that he was at the point that it was nearly palatable, and he was sort of saying that a lot of things have improved and everything is good now. Basically, what he was saying was that the Government was going to vote "Yes" to it - the Minister of State knows that - and only at the last minute was the U-turn done. That is the reality. Everyone knows that.
We will put the past behind us. We will put the Government's duplicity and all its nonsense behind us and we will start a new day tomorrow. Will it tomorrow make sure that every MEP elected in Ireland will vote against this agreement? Will the Minister of State make sure they vote against it? Will he make sure his Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael colleagues who are Government MEPs vote against it? Will he do that or will he not? That is a mark of what his commitment is. Will he make sure that he works with other countries across Europe to block this deal? Will the Government publish what it has done in the past and what it intends to do in the future, as stated in the motion we put before the House, or will it not? At the end of the day, we know where the Government stands. The Government thinks it can ride both horses; it cannot.

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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