EU Meetings Dail Éireann — 2026-02-05 ============================================================ Neale Richmond (FG), Dublin Rathdown I will address the generality of the Deputy's point and then get to the specifics. Ireland's engagement with the European Union is comprehensive and deep, reflecting our commitment to the European project. Since the Minister, Deputy McEntee, assumed office in November, she has participated actively in all three formal Foreign Affairs Council meetings that have taken place, including most recently in Brussels. These meetings are vital for co-ordinating our response to international challenges. The Minister also participated in the Foreign Affairs Council in trade format last November. The totality of Ireland's relationship is further evidenced by our consistent representation across all Council formations and our engagement at all levels with Commissioners here and abroad. Officials engaged in meetings with the relevant Directorates-General of the Commission to advance Ireland's interests in a wide range of areas, including development co-operation, trade and competitiveness. Trade is the key part of the Deputy's question and his secondary point. Ireland's extensive engagement is not just tied to the fact we assume the Presidency of the Council of the European Union from 1 July. Ireland has very real concerns, however. We made our concerns clear not just over the last year but over the last five or seven years, since there was a Sinn Féin motion in this House in relation to Mercosur and its impact on the beef and poultry sectors and its very real environmental impacts. We lobbied and negotiated with the Commission, which is the trade negotiating entity of the European Union throughout that process. Unfortunately, the deal it secured was not acceptable to Ireland, France, Austria or Poland. Belgium abstained and the Hungarians also opposed it. We will continue to provide that level of engagement throughout the process, bearing in mind the European Parliament had an impactful vote two weeks ago, referring the deal. We made quite clear that we have very serious concerns about the trade deal in its current format and we are not in favour of its implementation or application. Hence we voted against it. --- 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/2026-02-05/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:36+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-02-05