A special Oireachtas meeting this week saw the Government called upon to clarify its voting intentions on the proposed EU-Mercosur free trade agreement before the deal is put to votes of member states and MEPs.

The Oireachtas agriculture committee heard from IFA president Francie Gorman that “Government needs to come 100% clear” on where it stands on the “ultimate test” that will be the deciding vote on Mercosur.

Gorman’s comments came while he was giving evidence to the committee on the joint Irish Farmers Journal IFA investigation into Brazilian beef farming, with the meeting hearing from a delegation from both parties.

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Tánaiste Simon Harris suggested on Thursday last that Ireland’s position remains as it was set out in the Programme for Government, which commits to “opposing the current Mercosur trade deal”.

Harris told the Dáil that Government “still has concerns about the Mercosur deal, despite some of the protocols that have been announced” but stopped short of declaring Ireland will cast a definitive no vote on it.

The IFA’s director general Damian McDonald warned TDs and senators that this “carefully crafted” wording leaves the door open to Government saying “there is a safeguard clause now which moves the goalposts”.

Sinn Féin’s agriculture spokesperson Martin Kenny TD called on Government to make its position on the trade deal clear by announcing its voting intention and he called for MEPs to come under party whips when the agreement is before the European Parliament.

“In general, there is unanimity in this committee as to where we stand but the problem is that we don’t have unanimity from an Irish perspective,” Kenny said.

“We don’t have a unified position that Ireland is going to block the deal.

“We are all in political parties.

“Why is the Government here not whipping its MEPs to vote against this deal.”

Independent senator Victor Boyhan claimed that there is a “lot of ambiguity out there” on the position of Government leaders on Mercosur, but Fine Gael Laois TD Willie Aird said he had not been informed of a change in Government’s position on rejecting the agreement.