Trade Agreements
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-29
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Peadar Tóibín (AON), Meath West

The Minister talks about resilience. A third of farmers are making their living off the farm, according to Teagasc, a third are only making a living because someone in the household is working off the farm, and a full third are currently either going into debt or are in poverty. That is an incredible figure. Every year, the number of farmers is reducing in this country. The Minister is saying there will be an extra reduction in employment as a result of this particular deal, and he refers to a €55 million reduction in income in the sector over this period of time. That is catastrophic for farmers, who are already clinging on to economic survival.
Last week, my colleague, Deputy Paul Lawless, was in Strasbourg lobbying MEPs. Luckily, he and others won the vote there. Incredibly, MEPs in the Minister’s party voted against farmers in Strasbourg last week, which is shocking. Is it going to be a situation where the Minister makes sure this deal is not implemented unless it gets the democratic assent of Europe, or is he going to allow this deal to be implemented before there is even a proper vote or judgment on it?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-29/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:34+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-29