ICSA calls for scrapping of WTO talks

Irish Cattle and Sheepfarmers’ Association (ICSA) president Malcolm Thompson has today called for the Doha round of World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks to be scrapped completely, calling it "obsolete and no longer relevant to the current global situation".

"This round of WTO talks was structured seven years ago, when the world was a different place, but in the last 18 months the global food security situation has changed beyond recognition," he said.

"The Doha round is like a shirt that is too small and it simply doesn’t fit. It undermines EU agricultural output at a time when the EU should be prioritising its food supply above everything else.

"WTO’s concentration on services and intellectual property is all very well, but people can’t eat computer programmes and mobile phones. It’s time to go back to the drawing board and start again.”

Mr Thompson was speaking at an ICSA debate on the ratification of the Lisbon treaty in Tullamore.