Farmers clash with Coughlan over ‘disastrous’ deal
Farm leaders claimed the agreement, which includes the scrapping of export subsidies by 2013, represented a black day for the sector.
Ms Coughlan insisted, however, that the agreement between the 148 World Trade Organisation (WTO) countries was the best possible outcome for Ireland.
She said it would promote growth in developing countries while protecting the model of agriculture practised in the EU and the livelihood of its farmers.
Ms Coughlan, speaking on her arrival in Brussels yesterday to attend an EU Council of Agriculture Ministers meeting, said she was most surprised at the exaggerated reaction in some quarters to the outcome.
She said the elimination of export refunds had already been agreed in August 2004 and had been flagged as far back as 2001.
The date now agreed for their elimination is the end of 2013, not 2010 as originally sought, and is conditional on the phasing out of other forms of export trade subsidies by trading partners.
Ms Coughlan said the more critical part of the current WTO round was a question of access to the European market, which will be the subject of further negotiations next year. The WTO Doha round is due to be finally concluded before the end of 2006.
But Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) president John Dillon said farmers had paid a heavy price. It was a case of all losses and not a single gain. One of the lowest-income sectors in Ireland had been forced to bear the full cost of the deal.
“Irish farm families have been sacrificed to further the interests of multi-national traders and South American ranchers,” he said.
Mr Dillon said the deal would destroy one-third of Irish farm output that would mean a loss of €1.2 billion to the country.
He said farm incomes would fall by 35%, with a knock-on loss of €800 million to the rural economy.
There would be 50,000 jobs lost in farming, farm supplies and processing as more and more of the
European food market was taken over by North and South America, Australia and New Zealand, he said.
Mr Dillon called for the establishment of a high-level working party under the auspices of the Taoiseach’s office to co-ordinate Ireland’s handling of the vital technical negotiations in Geneva that have to be completed by April 2006.
Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association president Pat O’Rourke described the agreement as disastrous for Irish farmers, particularly for the beef and dairy sectors, while the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association leader Malcolm Thompson said it was a bad day for Irish farming.
Fine Gael agriculture spokesman Denis Naughten said the deal was bad for Irish farmers and consumers alike and would put tens of thousands of Irish farmers out of business.
It would also result in substantial volumes of food products coming into the EU, which would not be produced to the same high standards as product from Ireland, leading to a greater frequency of food scares, he said.
Labour Party spokeswoman Dr Mary Upton, urged the Government to formulate a new strategy for Irish agriculture following the conclusion of both the world trade and EU budget negotiations.
