An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-27
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

The Deputy's assertion about my statement in China is incorrect. He should look at the transcript of it. I said on that occasion that progress had been made on the insertion of safeguards into the Mercosur agreement. Safeguards were introduced by comparison with where things were over a year ago. Significant safeguards were introduced. That is all I said, and that needed to be acknowledged.
I also said we had deep concerns in respect of Mercosur beef standards and referred to looking for further measures. The agriculture meeting was due to be held that day in relation to sanitary and phytosanitary matters and a potential regulation of the Commission in respect of pesticides, standards and so forth. As the Deputy will note if he checks, I finally said the Fine Gael leader and I would meet the leaders of the Independent component of the Government that evening to formalise the Government's position, so there was no change between my statement that morning and our decision later.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-27/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:01+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-27