The Mercosur trade agreement which was passed by a vote of EU member states’ representatives last week, ‘is bad for health and bad for Irish farming’, Sinn Féin TD Ruairí Ó Murchú told a demonstration in Dundalk on Saturday.

Over 100 farmers on tractors converged on Market Square on Saturday morning for a rally in support of a larger event in Athlone, which attracted thousands of protesters.

The Dundalk TD told the Dundalk protesters that Irish people were ‘way beyond disappointed’ with the EU representatives’ vote on Friday and accused the government of doing ‘far too little, far too late’.

Deputy Ó Murchú urged farmers to ‘keep the government’s feet to the flames’ and said it was ‘not good enough’ that nearly 100,000 tonnes of South American beef could come into Europe under the Mercosur deal.

Deputy Ó Murchú joined us on The Agenda this morning to talk to us some more about this.

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Earlier in the programme we spoke to Independent Ireland MEP, Ciaran Mullooly, about the Mecosur deal vote taking place today.

The Irish Government will vote against the controversial Mercosur trade deal, the Taoiseach and Tánaiste confirmed yesterday.

In a statement, Tánaiste Simon Harris said that following negotiations with the EU on the deal, Ireland does not find the additional measures “sufficient to satisfy our citizens”.

We were joined on The Agenda this morning by Louth farmer and IFA member Edward O’Malley, who gave us his thoughts on the Mercosur deal and about how it will affect himself and other local farmers if it passes.

We aslso heard about a tractor run taking place tomorrow in Dundalk in support of the large anti-Mercosur protest in Athlone on Saturday.

We were also joined by Wicklow Wexford Sinn Fein TD, Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin, who says that Fine Gael and Fianna Fail have “failed the people of Ireland”.

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Hundreds of SuperValu price cuts are aimed at winning back market share for the company, but unlikely to trigger a wider price war, a retail expert has said.

The supermarket chain has reduced the price of 500 grocery staples by up to 10pc.

It comes as a majority of consumers said they were “disappointed” with official attempts to ease the cost-of-living crisis.

Consumers’ Association chairman Michael Kilcoyne called on other firms, such as Dunnes, Tesco, Aldi and Lidl, to react with similar price reductions.

We were joined this morning on The Agenda by Personal Finance Editor at The Irish Independent, Charlie Weston, who is going to tell us more about this.

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Concerns have been raised over how a quarter of driver disqualifications and almost half of all penalty points imposed on motorists by courts are going unrecorded on a national database of driving licences.

Fine Gael Dublin West TD Emer Currie said a failure to record the driving licence number of offending motorists who appear in court is “unacceptable”, adding that it erodes public confidence in road safety enforcement.

Deputy Currie has submitted a series of queries to the Department seeking clarity on the accuracy of the NVDF.

In response, the Minister has committed to a full review of the matching process and to publishing more complete data. She said the figures are particularly alarming given the rise in the number of deaths on the country’s roads.

Deputy Currie joined us on The Agenda this morning to talk to us some more about this.

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Legislation is being drafted by the Government to remove the passenger cap at Dublin Airport, the Taoiseach has said.

Speaking in China, Micheál Martin said the Government had made a "very clear decision to remove the cap".

"There is no question in my mind that that has to be delivered on."

He told reporters legislation is being drafted right now and that "further work needs to be done with the planning authority".

The passenger cap at Dublin Airport is a long-running row with concerns vocalised regularly on both sides of the dispute.

We were joined on The Agenda this morning by Niamh Maher, St Margaret's The Ward Residents Group spokesperson, about local residents around Dublin Airport reacting with deep concern to reports that legislation to scrap the passenger cap at Dublin Airport is imminent

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As we discussed before the break, the Irish Government will vote against the controversial Mercosur trade deal, the Taoiseach and Tánaiste confirmed yesterday.

In a statement, Tánaiste Simon Harris said that following negotiations with the EU on the deal, Ireland does not find the additional measures “sufficient to satisfy our citizens”.

“So our position stands. We will vote against the agreement,” he said.

Speaking to reporters in China, where he is travelling on a trade visit, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said Irish farmers had put too much work into improving their food production system to risk the deal.

We were joined on The Agenda this morning by Independent Ireland MEP, Ciaran Mullooly, who has been very vocal about the Mercosur deal from the beginning and he says ““at last the Government has gotten off the fence and decided it will vote against the Mercosur deal”.

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A bill quietly announced by the Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan over the Christmas break has come under sharp criticism this week over fears it will have a chilling effect on press freedoms and force journalists to reveal their sources.

News that Cabinet had approved the Garda Síochána (Powers) Bill (2025) was announced by the Department of Justice in a press release on Saturday 27 December. Under the proposed legislation, gardaí will be given greater powers to search digital devices such as phones without prior judicial approval.

Sinn Féin’s justice spokesperson Matt Carthy has said that his party has serious concerns about the bill, and Deputy Carty joined us on The Agenda this morning to talk to us some more about this.

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Foreign Affairs Minister and Meath-East Fine Gael TD Helen McEntee visited Belfast earlier this week to meet party leaders and representatives from Troubles victims’ and survivors’ groups.

The Minister met with the Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, DUP MLA Edwin Poots, on her visit, which she says has been a “priority” for her since taking up her current role in November 2025.

Minister McEntee, who is also deputy leader of Fine Gael, also this week represented Ireland in Paris at a critical meeting of the Coalition of the Willing, a group of Ukraine’s allies, where security guarantees for Ukraine were discussed.

Minister McEntee joined us on The Agenda this morning to talk to us some more about this, and also about the Mercosur deal vote taking place today.

Also, the Minister has promised that the Government remains committed to doing everything in its power to secure answers for the family of murdered GAA official Sean Brown.

And, about why she is 'extremely concerned' over the US actions against Venezuela.

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News that the Venezuelan-Russian tanker skirting Ireland’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) has been seized by US forces will have led to a sigh of relief in the corridors of Leinster House.

Aside from the awkward political issues that such an intervention taking place near Irish-controlled waters may have led to, there is the fact that a significant threat to Irish and European interests has been averted.

The “now it’s Venezuelan, now it’s not” tanker had re-registered itself as a Russian vessel halfway across the Atlantic. This was really just declaring the truth of it being part of Russia’s sanction-busting “shadow fleet”.

We were joined on The Agenda this morning by  Irish Army soldier and security & defence analyst Declan Power, who says “Donald Trump has done Ireland a favour by intercepting the Russian ‘shadow fleet’ oil tanker”.

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The long-promised upgrade of Drogheda Bus Station is not likely to begin soon, with the National Transport Authority (NTA) confirming that it does not currently envisage any accessibility works proceeding this year and stating that responsibility for major improvements rests with Bus Éireann.

The update was provided to Labour TD Ged Nash following a query made in December.

In its response, the NTA said that upgrades to Drogheda Bus Station fall outside the remit of its Public Transport Infrastructure Capital Grant scheme, as Drogheda is not located within the Greater Dublin Area. Under the NTA’s Direct Award Contract with Bus Éireann, the national bus operator is responsible for the ongoing maintenance and general upkeep of the station.

Deputy Nash joined us on The Agenda this morning to talk to us some more about this.

We also got an update on the new driving test centre coming to Drogheda and where things are now with that.

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