Trade Agreements
Dail Éireann — 2026-03-19
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Louis O'Hara (SF), Galway East

There will be a huge impact on agriculture through this deal, so it is very relevant to the Minister. There is a concern out there because Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil sat on the fence for years when it came to this deal. It was not until the day before the vote that they came out and said they were going to outright oppose the deal. It is now being provisionally applied even though the European Parliament has voted to refer it to the European Court of Justice as it is not satisfied with the legality of the agreement.
The Government cannot be passive in the face of this. It needs to take a clear position on this and work with other member states to halt the provisional application of this deal. It is detrimental to Irish farming. Irish farmers have been clear about that and their views on it. As Minister for agriculture, Deputy Heydon's job is to represent those farmers, their views and their best interests. What specific actions is the Minister going to take? I understand what he is saying about safeguards and so on, and all of that is important, but what specific actions is he taking to oppose and stop the provisional implementation of this deal?

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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