Over 27,000 people attended last Saturday’s anti-Mercosur protest in Athlone, according to the event’s organisers Independent Ireland.

Speaking on a live social media briefing from Leinster House with his TD colleague Michael Fitzmaurice, the party’s MEP Ciaran Mullooly said the protest was a pivotal moment.

“Firstly, it’s four days since we met in the town of Athlone. A most amazing day in Irish history.

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“A day when more than 27,000 people gathered in the midlands and came forward to say no to Mercosur, showing determination from every corner of the country, from Malin to Mizen.”

“At the end of that day, one thing became clear: people power was on show. And the message came back to us that we need to move forward on this with action and not words,” Mullooly added.

The MEP addressed the next vote on the Mercosur at the European Parliament, which he said is a route to defeating the trade deal.

“There are 720 MEPs in the European Parliament. We know now we need a simple majority – 361 will be enough to win it.”

“The no side lost [the last vote] by 55 votes. But significantly on that day, 88 people abstained ... so our campaign and our work now starts to meet those 88 people.

“We will be in Strasbourg on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and we’ll be getting down to business. It is crucial we meet every MEP and ask them to consider voting no on this occasion,” he added.

Mullooly said he will attend the French farmer protest in Strasbourg on Tuesday and added that a coordinated European public-information campaign will also be launched.

“Our team will be speaking on local radio in Italy, France and Germany, speaking candidly about the threat to public health and explaining why we have a concern about the safety of food coming in from the Mercosur countries, with medical advice from medical professionals, in the native language of those countries,” he said.

Letters

Mullooly said he has formally written to the Taoiseach and Tánaiste, calling on them to honour their opposition to Mercosur under the Programme for Government and to engage directly with MEPs in Strasbourg next week.

“We are now officially inviting the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste to come to Strasbourg next week to follow through on what they said they were agreeing to in the programme for Government – that they would work with like-minded countries and that they would seek to oppose this deal.”

“Next week in Strasbourg, all 720 MEPs will be in the House. They will be there from Monday to Thursday and available to speak one-to-one and in their groups,” he added.

Public health

Speaking on the social media briefing, Fitzmaurice said the Dáil’s Joint Committee on Agriculture will work with the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) on food labelling.

“You’d need to have a fair pair of glasses on you to see where food is coming from in this country at the moment.

“We’ve written to the different departments, because bear in mind the amount of food that’s bought by the State for the HSE and all the different bodies. We need to know where that food is coming from.

“We have to be accurate in what we are doing. We don’t want to give out misinformation. We want to be accurate.

“There’s two parts to this. Food health ... 128 kilos has come into the country of hormonal beef. Would you like to have eaten that if you hadn’t known? And the answer is no. You cannot trust this system,” he said.

The TD added that there is an imbalance facing European farmers.

“European farmers have to go through all the regulations – rightly so – because we pride ourselves on our food standards, while there is no real commitment elsewhere to change anything,” he said.

No confidence vote

Speaking on matters at European level, Mullooly said a motion of no confidence in Ursula von der Leyen’s Commission is to be tabled.

“We will have another vote of no confidence in the von der Leyen Commission next week in Strasbourg.

“This will be the fourth motion of no confidence in von der Leyen or her Commission since I joined the European Parliament.

“That issue will probably be debated on Monday, and it’s expected a vote will take place on Thursday next week,” he said.

The midlands-based MEP added that a legal review of the trade deal is needed and he was one of 120 MEPs who signed a motion in support of this.

To continue the momentum from last weekend’s protest, Mullooly said farmers should canvases their local TDs and Senators at constituency offices on opposition to the deal.

“This is a peaceful event, a peaceful intervention. We’re not asking anybody to go to a house of a TD or a Senator under any circumstance.

“We’re most certainly asking you to call in to the constituency office of your local TD and Senator.

“Ask them straight out: will the Taoiseach be in Strasbourg next week? Will the Tánaiste be in Strasbourg? It’s a straightforward question.

“People power has driven this from the start. Action speaks louder than words, and I will be watching very carefully to see what happens next week,” he added.