Trade Agreements
Dail Éireann — 2026-03-19
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Martin Heydon (FG), Kildare South

I thank Deputy O'Hara for raising the important matter of the EU-Mercosur trade agreement. The Government has been very clear about Ireland’s concerns in relation to the EU-Mercosur agreement and has expressed these consistently over a number of years, particularly in relation to the agreement's potential impact on the beef sector, the strength of its climate and sustainability commitments, and the production standards enforced by Mercosur countries.
Since I took up the role of Minister in January of last year, I have met with like-minded EU counterparts to discuss these concerns. I have also raised them at every opportunity at the monthly AGRIFISH Council meetings in Brussels, at the extraordinary EU agriculture ministers’ meeting with Commissioners Hansen, Šefčovič and Várhelyi in January 2026, and in bilateral meetings with EU counterparts at the recent Global Forum for Food and Agriculture in Berlin, which was also in January.
I note the decision by the European Commission to move ahead with the provisional application of the EU-Mercosur interim trade agreement. The Government’s focus is on ensuring rigorous monitoring by the Commission of the agreement’s market impacts and the robust enforcement, where necessary, by the Commission of the provisions of the recently agreed safeguards regulation. The Government will also engage closely with the Commission and with other like-minded EU member states to ensure follow-through on additional commitments in relation to food safety and environmental standards as well as the agreement's stated intention to better align the production standards of imported products with EU production standards, particularly with regard to pesticides and animal welfare. All of this work will be crucial to addressing the concerns of our farmers and our consumers.
Some of these additional commitments were given by Commissioner Várhelyi at that special meeting in January, which I attended and where I raised and pushed those points with the Commissioner. Those safeguards that have been put in place are absolutely and critically important. We could never stop this on our own but we have worked with like-minded countries to build a bloc to do so. At the same time, as part of a twin-track approach, we have always pushed for the maximum amount of safeguarding measures to reassure our consumers and farmers should the agreement come into operation.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-03-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:45+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-19