Simon Harris says Fine Gael will not be on 'back foot' on Mercosur because of 'performative politics'

MEP Ciarán Mullooly walks with farmers protesting in Strasbourg. Mr Mullooly has said the trade deal will do "nothing of substance" for the EU economy and has urged farmers to continue to fight against it.

Tánaiste Simon Harris has said that a vote to refer the Mercosur trade deal to the European Courts "should not have happened" as he took aim at Independent Ireland MEP Ciarán Mullooly at a private Fine Gael meeting.

Sources at Wednesday’s Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting told the Irish Examiner that Mr Harris informed TDs and senators that their party would not be “on the back foot” on Mercosur because Mr Mullooly was engaging in “performative politics”.

A vote was passed in the European Parliament on Wednesday to refer the Mercosur trade agreement — a deal to allow increased access to the European market for agricultural goods from South America — to the European Courts.

Mr Mullooly has said the trade deal will do "nothing of substance" for the EU economy and has urged farmers to continue to fight against it. 

The decision to refer the trade deal to the courts will likely delay its introduction by up to two years and could potential derail it altogether.

Ireland was one of a handful of countries that voted against making the deal between the EU and the South American countries earlier this month.

Despite TDs and senators in Government parties being against Mercosur, some MEPs, including Fine Gael’s Regina Doherty and Seán Kelly, have indicated that they will vote in favour, in line with most European partners.

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At Wednesday’s parliamentary party meeting, Fine Gael senator Garret Ahearn asked Mr Harris if the party’s MEPs would be whipped and told how to vote. 

Sources at the meeting said he suggested that MEPs “went on the radio” and gave views that were “contradictory” to Mr Harris’s comments on Mercosur.

Mr Ahearn said that out of four Irish MEPs who voted against referring the case to the European Courts, three were from Fine Gael. 

This included Mr Kelly, Ms Doherty, and Maria Walsh. 

Fianna Fáil’s Barry Andrews also voted against the proposal.

Farmers wave banners and set off flares during a demonstration against the EU-Mercusor trade agreement outside the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Picture: Pascal Bastien/AP

Mr Ahearn suggested Independent Ireland would argue that Fine Gael was in favour of Mercosur because of the stance taken by some MEPs.

Senator Seán Kyne also suggested Fine Gael MEPs voting both for and against Mercosur would be “very damaging to the party”.

Mr Harris did not commit to whipping the Fine Gael MEPs, but he "called" for them to vote against it, while acknowledging they were in a difficult position due to the European People's Party decision to back Mercosur.

The Tánaiste is understood to have told the meeting that the vote to refer Mercosur to the EU courts “shouldn’t have happened”, branding it “performative”.

He suggested that the party should not “fall for the trap” of “answering to Ciarán Mullooly”, and that Fine Gael was against Mercosur before Independent Ireland was set up.

He said there should have been a vote on the deal itself, which would have seen “almost all” Fine Gael MEPs vote against Mercosur.

The Irish Examiner also understands there was some criticism from TDs and senators about MEPs not attending parliamentary party meetings online, with the Tánaiste saying that while some MEPs were good at dialling in, others had “yet to be seen”.