{"id":314984,"date":"2026-02-01T13:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T13:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/314984\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T13:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T13:34:11","slug":"mep-mulloolys-enthusiasm-for-mother-of-all-trade-deals-powdered-down-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/314984\/","title":{"rendered":"MEP Mullooly\u2019s enthusiasm for \u2018mother of all trade deals\u2019 powdered down \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was like the old RT\u00c9 days for Independent Ireland MEP Ciaran Mullooly<\/a> this week, who emerged from a European Parliament<\/a> committee to break a \u201cgood news\u201d story to his social media followers about the signing of an EU-India trade deal<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe scale of this is huge. India is one of the countries in the world with the largest use of milk,\u201d said the former Midlands correspondent in a video message, adding that it would benefit Irish farming and the wider economy as there was business to be done in the areas of cheese and dairy formula milk product. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not talking thousands and millions here; we\u2019re talking billions if we can pull this off. That\u2019s why it\u2019s on a different scale to Mercosur<\/a> and that\u2019s why I warmly welcome it and that\u2019s why I will support it alongside colleagues here in the European Parliament.\u201d <\/p>\n

Described by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen<\/a> as \u201cthe mother of all deals\u201d, the accord should cut tariffs on 96.6 per cent of EU goods exports to India. It\u2019s wise to read the small print: among the products excluded from relief were soya, beef, sugar and \u2013 you\u2019ve guessed it \u2013 dairy.<\/p>\n

\"IndianIndian prime minister Narendra Modi (centre) welcomes European Council president Antonio Costa (left) and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen before their meeting in New Delhi. Photograph: Manish Swarup\/AP <\/p>\n

Representative body Dairy Industry Ireland was \u2013 understandably enough \u2013 \u201cdisappointed\u201d the deal would not yield improved access to India for the sector and that high tariffs would remain on cheese and dairy-based exports.<\/p>\n

Irish support for the India deal<\/a> raised some eyebrows in Brussels, with the State jumping back on the pro-trade bandwagon just days after voting against the Mercosur pact. That move was driven by pressure from beef farmers and some politicians (Mullooly included) about the possible arrival of cheaper, lower quality meat from South America. Mercosur has, however, been applauded as a \u201clandmark\u201d deal by the European Dairy Association. <\/p>\n

Mullooly\u2019s breaking news update has since been deleted from his account on social media network X. <\/p>\n

The MEP on Friday said his understanding is that the EU-India accord will be good news for milk formula producers as India is a multibillion market for such products. <\/p>\n

He said he removed the clip from X due to the unpleasant nature of comments appearing under it but it remained on his Facebook page.<\/p>\n

Big job (and salary) on offer for next justice chief <\/p>\n

Change is coming at Department of Justice<\/a> HQ on Dublin\u2019s St Stephen\u2019s Green with Oonagh McPhillips, the first woman to serve as its secretary general, set to retire in the spring. <\/p>\n

Her successor will take on a job with a salary of \u20ac261,762 and a seven-year term, according to an advert on Public Jobs. They will have to \u201clead a department with 4,600 people and a budget of some \u20ac2.7 billion\u201d and set \u201cthe strategic direction for the wider justice sector which comprises more than 27,000 people with an operating budget of over \u20ac6 billion\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe incoming secretary general at the Department of Justice will take on the job for a seven-year term. Photograph: Getty Images <\/p>\n

\u201cThere is increasing ethnic diversity, and a vibrant LGBT+ network,\u201d it says of the department.<\/p>\n

Producing \u201chigh quality and timely legislation to support and drive change\u201d is listed as a key responsibility, and there are many strategies to be developed, with this year\u2019s priorities crossing cyber security, family justice, migration, retail crime and community safety. <\/p>\n

McPhillips joined the Civil Service in 1985 at what was then the lowest entry-level grade: temporary clerical trainee. She spent most of her career in justice, bar stints as a civilian manager in An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na and a speech writer in \u00c1ras an Uachtar\u00e1in. She was appointed secretary general in 2020. <\/p>\n

\"SinéadSin\u00e9ad McPhillips (left) and Oonagh McPhillips, secretaries general of the Departments of Agriculture and Justice respectively <\/p>\n

\u201cI have been at every level so I know what it\u2019s like to be an executive officer, or a higher executive officer who can\u2019t get promoted,\u201d she said previously.<\/p>\n

Her departure will bring an end to a sister-sister tandem at the top of the Civil Service<\/a>, with Sin\u00e9ad McPhillips last year appointed as secretary general of the Department of Agriculture<\/a>.<\/p>\n

High-flying Hamnet opens door to \u2018difficult conversations\u2019<\/p>\n

It has been hard to escape the buzz surrounding Hamnet, Chloe Zhao\u2019s screen adaptation Maggie O\u2019Farrell\u2019s novel<\/a> about the relationship between William and Agnes Shakespeare following the death of their son.<\/p>\n

The film this week received 11 Bafta Award nominations<\/a> including best actress for Co Kerry\u2019s Jessie Buckley and best supporting actor for Co Kildare\u2019s Paul Mescal. It tasted success at the Golden Globes and also received eight Academy Award nominations. <\/p>\n

\"JessieJessie Buckley and Paul Mescal at the Golden Globes earlier this month in Beverly Hills, California. Photograph: Christopher Polk\/2026GG\/Penske Media via Getty Images <\/p>\n

Some critics have complained that the film is little more than \u201cgrief porn\u201d, but as Irish Times Film Correspondent Donald Clarke notes<\/a>: \u201cWell, only in the sense that Vittorio De Sica\u2019s Bicycle Thieves was poverty porn and Martin Scorsese\u2019s Taxi Driver was lunatic porn…<\/p>\n

\u201cGrief is a fit subject, and it is here treated with such intense dignity that we can even forgive yet another airing of Max Richter<\/a>\u2019s sombre tune On the Nature of Daylight.\u201d <\/p>\n

Critics will be critics, but Hamnet this week received praise from Anam Cara, a charity supporting bereaved parents, for having \u201copened a door for people to have difficult conversations about the death of children in Ireland\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"Hamnet:Hamnet: Jessie Buckley as Agnes and Paul Mescal as William Shakespeare. Photograph: \u00a92025 Focus Features LLC\/All Rights Reserved <\/p>\n

\u201cHamnet portrays grief not as something neat or easily resolved, but as something that lives in the body and in everyday life,\u201d said its chief executive Michelle Reynolds.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a society, we often don\u2019t know how to respond to child loss. Hamnet reminds us how important it is to speak a child\u2019s name, to acknowledge their life, and to create space where parents can express their grief.\u201d<\/p>\n

Minister lobbied by group aiming to elevate Irish \u2018wedding standards\u2019<\/p>\n

A browse through the returns filed on the State\u2019s Lobbying Register shows it really does take all sorts to make a world. It lists the people, companies, NGOs, industry bodies and consultancy firms who have sought to get all manner of points across to public office holders. <\/p>\n

Among those recently filing returns were former TD Lucinda Creighton\u2019s Vulcan Consulting, which sought to engage with Oireachtas members on behalf of Horse Racing Ireland regarding the industry\u2019s economic importance; the Irish Solar Energy Association, which was seeking a legislative framework favourable to the deployment of solar panels in Ireland; and Chinese technology firm Huawei Ireland, which sought to update Ministers on its Irish operations. <\/p>\n

Another was from the Irish Wedding Professionals Association, \u201ca non-profit community and resource hub created for Irish wedding industry vendors\u201d, which late last year wrote to Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke seeking a meeting. <\/p>\n

\"MinisterMinister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment Peter Burke. Photo: Sam Boal\/Collins Photos <\/p>\n

The intention, it said, was to seek formal recognition as the organisation \u201crepresenting Ireland\u2019s top wedding professionals with a vision of elevating the wedding standards in Ireland\u201d and, move over Lake Como, to position the country \u201cas a leading destination for weddings globally\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"AA room is set up for a wedding celebration at the Kingsley hotel in Cork <\/p>\n

It also hoped to receive funds to support professional training with a view to elevating standards and to cover having a presence at various \u201cluxury\u201d trade shows.<\/p>\n

\u201cA response was received with a note to say he was not available to meet at this time,\u201d the association\u2019s return states. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was like the old RT\u00c9 days for Independent Ireland MEP Ciaran Mullooly this week, who emerged from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[150390,9,10,88244,13169,15778,4893,22264,13,14,6,387,24510,11,12,15,16,31095,5,23432,4772,7,8,4894,7263,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-314984","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-baftas","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-breakingnews","11":"tag-ciaran-mullooly","12":"tag-department-of-justice","13":"tag-department-of-agriculture-food-and-the-marine","14":"tag-eu","15":"tag-european-parliament","16":"tag-featured-news","17":"tag-featurednews","18":"tag-headlines","19":"tag-india","20":"tag-jessie-buckley","21":"tag-latest-news","22":"tag-latestnews","23":"tag-main-news","24":"tag-mainnews","25":"tag-mercosur","26":"tag-news","27":"tag-paul-mescal","28":"tag-peter-burke","29":"tag-top-stories","30":"tag-topstories","31":"tag-ursula-von-der-leyen","32":"tag-weddings","33":"tag-world","34":"tag-world-news","35":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115995637578611573","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314984","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=314984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}