Thousands of farmers and supporters are protesting in Athlone this lunchtime against the EU-Mercosur trade agreement.
Earlier they marched towards the Technological University of the Shannon, Midlands campus where a rally is now underway.
Protesters are calling on Ireland to continue opposing the deal, despite it securing enough support from other EU states to move forward.
Farmers from Carlow and Kilkenny are among those taking part in the protest.
James Roche from Tullohought says todays protest is only the beginning,
“This deal is only suiting the corporates, the big multinationals and big business. Everything seems to be geared towards destroying the ordinary family farmers. Even the farmers, when they went out and done the report around South America, that the family farmers weren’t for this deal at all. It was only the big, huge meat processors that are going to continue to burn down more of the rainforest, to expand and have bigger areas to produce more and more cattle.”
“If they push the farmers here out of business using hormones, illegal antibiotics, and no traceability whatsoever, then everyone will be only depending on what they have coming over there, because the farmers here will be pushed out of business.”
KCLR’s farming correspondent Matt O’Keeffe says todays protest will send a message to the EU Commission,
“The European Parliament still has to vote. Obviously, it could put some more backbone into some of the faltering MEPs, if you like. From the point of view of sending a message to the European Commission, I think it’s necessary (0:12) that that protest take place today.
“It’s not going to fundamentally change the fact that Mercosur is very, very, very likely now to pass. But it’ll lay down a marker that some of the negotiations that were completed by the European Union were inadequate, insufficient oversight. I’m talking about on the ground where they can monitor production and processing and the application of the same standards that European farmers have to comply with. That’s not there.”
Speaking earlier on The Saturday Show with Edward Hayden, Carlow Kilkenny TD John McGuinness says far greater concessions could have been secured…
“You can’t ignore the prediction here of 10,000 people protesting. You can’t ignore that type of public opinion, that type of concern.”
“They (the Government) have voted against it, but did they do enough before that vote was taken? My belief is that a lot more could have been done. We could have got far greater concessions, specifically for beef and poultry and the other areas of concern within the Mercosur deal for agriculture.”
