Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 October 2020
69. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the discussions he has had with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine with regard to the impact of the Mercosur trade deal on farming here. [27551/20]
View answerIn June 2019, negotiations for an EU-Mercosur Agreement were concluded, marking the EU’s largest trade deal to date.
In January 2020, my Department, in conjunction with DAFM, commissioned an independent consultancy firm to undertake an Economic and Sustainability Impact Assessment (ESIA) of the EU-Mercosur Agreement following a competitive tender process. In line with our commitments in the Programme for Government, the ESIA is designed to assist Government in formulating its position on future ratification of the Agreement and it is my intention, working in conjunction with the Minister for Agriculture Food and the Marine, that Government will have the ESIA available to us to assist our decision making on the Agreement ahead of the European Commission presenting the Member States with the legally-proofed texts of the Agreement in due course.
