Address to Seanad Éireann by Members of the European Parliament
Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-18
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Joanne Collins (SF), Agricultural Panel

I will direct my questions to Séan Kelly, MEP. Why did he vote against referring the EU Mercosur trade agreement to the European Court of Justice? I know he spoke about that in his opening remarks and a couple of times thereafter. Was there a whip in place for that vote? I ask this in light of the recent block-in of the Hague fisheries safeguards by a group of the larger member states, an outcome which is expected to probably cost Ireland up to €200 million. There are real concerns that the safeguards can be weakened in practice. How can Irish farmers have confidence that the safeguards that are put in place as regards the Mercosur trade agreement will be legally robust and cannot simply be undermined or vetoed?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-18/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:39+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-18