Walshe defends IFA statements

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson has accused the Irish Farmers’ Association of getting its facts wrong, but IFA President Padraig Walshe said he stood over its statements.

Sensitive product status for beef was not viable, he said. EU imports of 570,000 tonnes would increase by a further 780,000 tonnes, which would force Irish cattle prices down to and unviable €2/kg (70p/lb).

Nor could Irish farmers make a living at the 24 cent per litre milk price resulting from a 70% cut in import tariffs, according to the IFA, which also says the proposed world trade deal would leave sheep production unviable, and lead to huge imports of pig and poultry meat.

Mr Walshe said there is a strong link between the world trade concessions and the Lisbon Treaty, because it enshrines the original Treaty of Rome articles establishing the Common Agricultural Policy, which Mandelson is “consigning to the dustbin”.