Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon has said that he will seek "the maximum amount of safeguards" for the beef sector if the EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement is ultimately ratified.

Minister Heydon is in Brussels today (January 7) for a meeting between EU agriculture ministers and the European Commission.

Minister Heydon is also set to meet with his counterparts from Poland, Italy and France, the three countries who have been most vocal in opposition to the deal.

However, it is understood that Italy has moved to supporting the deal, meaning a key 'blocking minority' will not materialise.

This is ahead of a meeting on Friday (January 9) of member states' permanent representatives to the EU (who are appointed by governments rather than being elected representatives or ministers).

A vote may take place at this meeting to ratify the deal.

Speaking in Brussels today, Minister Heydon said: "We need to work with likeminded countries. I met with some colleagues...who have previously already expressed the view that if the blocking minority is falling away we have to continue to work to get the best possible safeguards, because it takes more than one country to be able to stop this.

The minister acknowledged the proposal from the commission President Ursula von der Leyen on farm income supports in 2028, but said he wanted to know more about funding for those measures.

"All of these things are interlinked in terms of the standards, in terms of the simplification, and what that looks like, and the concerns we have on the Mercosur deal.

"No one will be surprised to know that I view [the deal] negatively. It's my job as minister for agriculture to articulate the view, and to defend the rights, of our farmers, particularly our beef sector...and I’ve articulated that over the last year in terms of the sensitivities in particular for our beef sector," Minister Heydon said.

He added: "So I will engage again today with colleagues, likeminded countries who share those concerns, but also with colleagues across the commission around those safeguards.

"If the blocking minority is going to fall away and isn’t going to exist come Friday, then we need to make sure the maximum amount of safeguards are in place for farmers if Mercosur is going to come to pass."

The minister said that the decision on how Ireland's representative votes on Friday will be a collective one for government, and added that, if the deal passes, the government will have to collectively examine "the impact this has on our farmers, on our sector".