{"id":278616,"date":"2026-01-11T01:57:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T01:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/278616\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T01:57:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T01:57:11","slug":"thousands-attend-mercosur-protest-in-athlone-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/278616\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands attend Mercosur protest in Athlone \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thousands of people attended a protest in Athlone, Co Westmeath, on Saturday against the EU-Mercosur<\/a> trade deal.<\/p>\n

On Friday, European Union states approved the agreement<\/a> with Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, although it still needs to be backed by MEPs.<\/p>\n

The Irish Government voted against the deal in its current form<\/a>, with senior Cabinet figures insisting that negotiations were not finalised.<\/p>\n

Many at the protest said they were concerned the deal would result in lower-quality beef being imported into Ireland from South America, affecting Irish farmers\u2019 livelihoods and the quality of meat consumed here.<\/p>\n

Paddy Buggy, a beef farmer and Fine Gael<\/a> councillor in Portlaoise, Co Laois<\/a>, said the agreement would allow \u201cpoor quality beef into the EU\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Buggy said he was concerned beef from South America would contain substances that were banned in the EU such as hormones and growth promoters. <\/p>\n

\u201cAll those are banned here \u2013 banned for specific reasons, they are damaging to people\u2019s health,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Buggy accused the European Union<\/a> of \u201chypocrisy\u201d, saying Irish farmers had followed all the rules, but were now being \u201cpenalised\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"FarmersFarmers from across the country drive through Athlone to protest against the Mercosur deal. Photograph: Enda O\u2019Dowd <\/p>\n

The protest, organised by Independent Ireland<\/a>, was attended by politicians and farming organisations.<\/p>\n

Independent Ireland MEP Ciaran Mullooly<\/a> told the rally that Irish consumers did not want to eat \u201ccontaminated\u201d beef. He urged his fellow Irish MEPs to vote against the deal.<\/p>\n

Se\u00e1n Sherman, a farmer based in Rathdowney, Co Laois, said \u201cbeef and sheep is my life\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have three kids in education, and they\u2019re encouraged to do everything that they want to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFarming isn\u2019t where they\u2019re pitching their sites because for the last 15 years it hasn\u2019t been profitable and now we\u2019re seeing a further step here to erode it completely.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a rural country, and farming is the backbone of it for lots of reasons. We\u2019re regulated almost out of existence, in terms of standards. We\u2019ve raised the bar very high and yet we\u2019re being sold out, so it\u2019s a difficult pill to swallow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FarmersFarmers Paddy Buggy and Se\u00e1n Sherman at the protest. Photograph: \u00d3rla Ryan \"ProtestersProtesters vented their anger at Brussels. Photograph: Enda O\u2019Dowd \"FarmersFarmers in convoy at the demonstration. Photograph: Enda O\u2019Dowd <\/p>\n

Rosemary Moran, a dairy farmer from Glasson, Co Westmeath, said the Mercosur deal proved many politicians \u201cdon\u2019t care\u201d about farmers. <\/p>\n

\u201cI worked so, so hard on farming. I followed the rules and I followed the regulations, and now it\u2019s okay for that woman in Brussels, Ursula [von der Leyen] to bring this in,\u201d Ms Moran said. \u201cWhy undo the good things now?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LeslieLeslie Northridge fears the deal will result in ‘a lot of youngsters’ leaving agriculture sector. Photograph: Enda O’Dowd <\/p>\n

Leslie Northridge, a farmer based Midleton, Co Cork, said he travelled to the protest because he wanted to \u201ckeep our industry alive, to make sure children, going forward, have a have a future in farming\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Northridge said the deal would result in \u201ca lot of youngsters\u201d leaving agriculture and getting jobs in other industries. <\/p>\n

\u201cFarmers will be decimated, there will be farms left idle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kerry Independent TD Danny Healy-Rae<\/a> said the deal represented \u201cthe death knell for Irish farming\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe at least deserve fair play, and we\u2019re not getting it now. The regime that\u2019s in place in the EU seems to be opening this thing up to the rest of the world. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we\u2019re only a small, little country. We can\u2019t compete in that market. I don\u2019t think that is fair, or we\u2019re going to survive in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Supporters of the trade deal<\/a>, however, say it offers access to new markets for EU businesses, including those in pharmaceuticals, tech and chemicals, and helps to combat US tariffs<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thousands of people attended a protest in Athlone, Co Westmeath, on Saturday against the EU-Mercosur trade deal. On…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,88244,1877,49414,2219,13,14,6,7062,957,11763,11,12,15,16,31095,5,7,8,19871,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-278616","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-ciaran-mullooly","11":"tag-cork","12":"tag-danny-healy-rae","13":"tag-european-union","14":"tag-featured-news","15":"tag-featurednews","16":"tag-headlines","17":"tag-independent-ireland","18":"tag-kerry","19":"tag-laois","20":"tag-latest-news","21":"tag-latestnews","22":"tag-main-news","23":"tag-mainnews","24":"tag-mercosur","25":"tag-news","26":"tag-top-stories","27":"tag-topstories","28":"tag-westmeath","29":"tag-world","30":"tag-world-news","31":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115873988194637108","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}