I move amendment No. 1 to amendment No. 1: To delete all words after "qualified majority the EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement; and" and substitute the following: "calls on the Government to: — undertake a diplomatic campaign to lobby and campaign a majority of Members of the European Parliament in Europe to oppose the Mercosur Trade Agreement; — take a case to the Court of Justice of the European Union to test whether or not the Mercosur Trade Agreement conflicts with existing EU Treaties; and — ensure that the Taoiseach and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade seek in-person meetings with the leaders of all political groupings within the European Parliament in advance of any vote taking place on the matter in the EU Parliament, and to ask them to reject the Mercosur Trade Agreement; and calls on: — the EU Commission not to implement the Mercosur Trade Agreement before the European Parliament has a chance to vote on the matter; and — to oppose any importation of beef or poultry products produced at lower regulatory standards than exist in Ireland.". It is time for the Government to get off the ditch on this issue. The duplicitous attitude the Government has in relation to this is, frankly, disgusting and disrespectful. The Government is going to the ploughing championships and so on and telling farmers, "We are with you and we support you". A number of weeks ago when Sinn Féin brought a motion the Minister was unable to state what way the Government would vote on this issue. In the most important week of the year the Taoiseach was in China contemplating signing the deal. All the while the Government is saying "Well, it is in our programme for Government". It means absolutely nothing in the programme for Government, as the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, well knows, because Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and many other parties supported the Lisbon treaty, which handed over our veto in relation to trade. That is the truth of it. The most galling act of all took place when the Government knew the qualified majority vote was collapsing. At that point the Government came out and said it would reject the deal. It is utterly shameful. I am calling on the Minister of State to get off the fence. First, the Government must get a handle on its own MEPs. Are they with us or are they against us? If they vote for this deal what sanctions will be applied within Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael? I also ask the Minister of State to engage in a full diplomatic offensive in relation to this issue. It is very clear that the Minister of State has, at best, sat on his hands on this issue. The clock is ticking. I ask him to engage, to send a delegation, and to send the Head of Government, the Taoiseach, out to Brussels to meet with every political grouping in Brussels ahead of the vote in the Parliament. The other issue is that we are demanding a litmus test on this. This must be sent to the European Court of Justice. There are serious issues, for example in relation to the free trade and environmental aspects. This deal is the very definition of an anti-competitive practice. We are tying our own farmers up in knots with animal welfare and environmental standards and so on, and yet those same regulations do not apply to these products that will be sold right across the European Union. On the environmental aspect, according to our Climate Change Advisory Council Ireland faces up to €28 billion in fines by 2030. The same European institutions that want to saddle us with this debt are actually seeking the destruction of the rainforests. We are calling on the Government to get off the fence, to mobilise and to reject this deal.

Sentiment score: 0.05