Most elected representatives, if the playing field is fair, are open to trade agreements. The reality of the past few trade agreements, be it Mercosur or this one, is that the playing field is not fair. I smiled when I heard the Taoiseach say a few years ago that one was backward if one felt one needed a sovereign state. When he spoke about Ukraine the other day, he made reference to a sovereign state. Europe has stripped us of an awful lot of stuff. We are in control of fewer and fewer things. Europe developed the habitats directive a few years ago, which has basically tied us up in knots. Housing is a major problem everywhere. We have set about giving things away and allowing the likes of Europe to dictate certain documents that are destroying this country. We are now paying the price. When the habitats directive was introduced, only a few people in the west were affected. It now affects every port, airport, road and everything else. We are constantly giving things away. What is the overall plan in Europe? Is it to make a county council out of the Dáil and leave councillors with less again while Europe dictates everything? It is damnable to see that companies can take our State to court and we will vote for this agreement. To be quite frank, we need to start holding onto what we have and the bit of sovereignty that is left. Let me be very clear - it is not much. People have said there will be a handbrake and whatever else in respect of Mercosur. The handbrake cable is well gone. Will it be stopped? It will not. Europe will hoodwink, mollycoddle and do whatever it has to do to get enough over the line because Germany controls and a few countries dictate what is going on in Europe. Let us not be waffling that we will decide what Europe will do. At the end of the day, despite it being demonstrated that the regulations for the quality of food are totally different, eyes will be closed to that because Mercs out of Germany are more important than looking after the people of Europe. This is the same setup and that is why I will vote against the Bill.

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