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IRELAND COULD VOTE against the EU-Mercosur trade deal which has been described as “a bad deal” for Ireland’s beef sector.
Speaking to reporters in Brussels yesterday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that the government will now conduct a full economic assessment of the so-called ‘Mercosur Deal’.
The EU and the South American trade bloc Mercosur sealed the hugely significant trade agreement on Friday, ending 20 years of talks over one of the world’s largest regional commercial accords.
The agreement came after two decades of negotiations between the EU and the countries of Mercosur – Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – which had repeatedly stalled because of the issues that European farmers had over the effect the deal would have on domestic beef markets.
The deal has been met with widespread anger in Ireland, with the IFA and Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) among the groups condemning it.
The groups say it will undermine beef markets as cheaper beef with low tariffs floods the EU from South America.
Speaking yesterday, the Taoiseach said that Ireland could not block the deal at the EU Trade Council – even if it voted against it – and said that a vote on the deal was at least two years away.
“This would go to the Trade Council for a Qualified Majority Vote in about two years’ time, so there’s a long way to go yet,” Varadkar said.
“What we will do now is an economic assessment of the EU-Mercosur deal to see what impact it’ll have on the Irish economy and on jobs. If it’s going to have a negative impact on the Irish economy and jobs, then obviously we’ll vote against it. If it has a positive impact, well then we’ll be minded to vote for it”.
‘It is a bad deal’
Commenting on the trade deal, Varadkar said: “It appears it may be good for dairy, good for the drinks industry, good for SMEs and good for the services sector. It’s also very evident that it would be bad for the beef sector so we’ll have to do an economic assessment… and if it’s bad for Ireland then we’ll vote against it.”
Speaking on RTÉ’s This Week programme yesterday, Agriculture Minister Michael Creed said that the trade agreement reached between the EU and a South American trading bloc is “a bad deal” for Ireland’s beef sector.
Creed said that draft agreement with Mercosur was “a deal that no member state or no national parliament has agreed”.
“That’s an important starting point to remember. It is a bad deal there’s no point in saying otherwise. It’s a bad deal for the beef sector,” Creed said.
Creed said it was his belief that Ireland would not have the ability to veto the deal, instead only having a qualified majority vote. This means that the country’s vote would only country for about 1-2% of the entire EU bloc.
The Mercosur trade pact is the largest ever concluded by the EU and would save European companies more than €4 billion worth of trade duties every year, as well as create a market of about 780 million people.
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Always thought those claims were a little sketchy…
Typical American culture . They would lose weight by the very nature they might get up off their asses and do some walking in the damn things !
What sort of fool thinks shoes alone make you lose weight ? Oh right I’ll get the trainers and sit on the sofa eating nachos . If used for the purpose designed they can only be good .
My orthopedic surgeon actually recommended those Shape-Up shoes to me after a knee op. The curve of the sole is supposed to stop you from placing too much strain on any one part of the knee when standing for prolonged periods of time. I have to say, they seemed to do the trick for me.
I had a hip repair at the age of 52 and I found the these were the making of me I can walk so well with them I have not worn anything else since in almost 2 years and my recovery was so much easier because of the shape. I was using a stick to walk and was getting pain on short walks but within about 3-4 weeks I could walk for about an hour2 years on has anyone got any suggestions for my shoulder had a repair done with that but my sketchers will not fit the shoulder
Will there ever be a day when politicians can be fined for false and misleading claims?
:)
We wish
Was reading through the comments and thought to myself its nice not to read a post tying this article to the government and then I came across your one! ok ya we get it the government is shit but do ye need to constantly give out about them on unrelated articles?
Yip I wear nothing but MBTs or Skechers since getting 2 new hips and 2 new knees and am flying on them. Regular flat sole shoes puts way too much stress on the join and leaves muscles mort fatigued. They are pricey, but you can always shop about!
I don’t think companies in Ireland can get fined for misleading or false claims in adverts. Advertising Authority can only make them withdraw their adverts
But they did work for me I would not wear anything else now I have A pair of the shape up runners a black pair of black and a pair of White shoes all shape ups and I have 3 pair of the flip flops. So so comfortable and as someone said in an earlier post you can only shape up by doing exercise by getting up off the chair and doing some but I found that my sketchers help a great deal because I find them to be so comfortable
I wear Mephistos. They help me to lose weight because I have to work so many more hours to pay for them.
Sketchers don’t really care. The have dropped that shoe and are at it again with a new range of ‘conceptual shoes’. They probably make more than $40m profit in Irl & UK alone.
The US trade commission will probably go after Reebok Easytone next. Their ads were banned for the same reason. Apparently all their claims were based on a survey that one guy was paid to write.
The only footwear company who seem to have genuine scientific research is a small Swiss science company called SpringBoost, but they run the risk of vanishing into obscurity because they don’t have the marketing clout to cope with these big footwear companies dodgy advertising. Apparently, im some country’s you can get SpringBoost on the local VHI health scheme. Can’t see that happening in Ireland.
Shite shoes
great shoes 40euros in barrets in town
I thought that was they were supposed to do??! My bad!!
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