Next Saturday’s Mercosur protest could be one of the largest farmer protests ever to take place in the country, with over 10,000 farmers expected to descend on Athlone for the day.

A number of farm organisations have confirmed their support for the protest, with a number of the leaders attending on Saturday. The IFA, ICSA, ICMSA, INHFA along with the Beefplan movement have all confirmed attendance.

Independent Ireland have garnered a lot of support in a relatively short timeframe from rural businesses, rural dwellers and farmers.

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On page 9 we outline all you need to know if travelling to Athlone on Saturday and what the likely outcome out of the protest will be.

There has been a lot of debate around the scheduling and location of the protest. The organisers have said that the timing of events in Brussels in the coming days dictate that they need to go this weekend, and they have also said that with no Dail sitting until 13 January there was no point in staging the protest in Dublin.

There are increasing concerns coming out of Brussels that the deal is almost across the line, with Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni said to be softening towards the agreement.

Without Italy, a blocking minority is almost impossible. France and Poland continue to remain resolute against the deal. Cracks are beginning to appear in the Government’s stance in recent days.

All eyes will be on Ursula von der Leyen in the next few days as she looks to seal the deal at a vote in Brussels on Friday. The move by the EU Commission on Tuesday to reallocate CAP funding post-2028 has been described as a clever ploy to get the Mercosur deal across the line.

Surely if the Mercosur deal is a good deal for Europe it can stand on its own merits without throwing billions worth of CAP funds at it to get it ratified.