World trade talks - Farmers have ample time to adapt

There were aspects of the recent agricultural deals for which the Government negotiators should be congratulated. Ireland will receive €14 billion from the European Union’s budget over the next seven years, despite being one of the wealthiest member states.

For the remainder of the decade this country will continue to receive more from the EU than it contributes.

Despite determined British efforts to change the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), it has been left intact until 2014, and the Irish farmers will continue to benefit from direct payments totalling €10.4bn and a further €1.9bn in rural development spending.

This country will also to get around €800 million in structural funding between 2007 and 2013, and around €900m to increase competitiveness, including research and development.

Irish farm leaders are not happy, but that is hardly surprising, because they have a practice of moaning about their lot, no matter what they get. They are bellowing this week as if they got nothing.

In addition to the advantages outlined above, they have been given a seven-year warning of the changes to which they will have to implement.

John Dillon, president of the Irish Farmers Association (IFA), acknowledged that export subsidies were always going to have to go, but he lamented that a date had now been set for their termination, because he contends that this will result in a serious loss of income for Irish farmers.

There has been much talk about the way that the abolition of these subsidies will help the underprivileged in the Third World. Mr Dillon may well be right in his contention that it will do little for those people.

South American ranchers and farmers, along with their counterparts in Australia and New Zealand, are likely to make the biggest gains.

Increasing the price of food in Third World markets by abolishing European subsidies, will mean that indigenous producers will get more for their produce, but that will be at the expense of their own people. Many of these Third World countries have been having trouble producing enough to feed themselves.

From the Irish perspective the proposed changes will undoubtedly have a major impact, but the country has seven years to prepare for life after the abolition of the CAP. The IFA leader called for the Taoiseach’s Department to set up a high-level working group to deal with the problems.

Back in the 1960s when this country first applied for membership of the European Economic Community, there were similar gloomy predictions about the likely fate of Irish industry. It was said that the removal of protectionist barriers would undermine most of our industries.

Serious efforts were made to adapt our industrial infrastructure in order to accommodate the necessary changes. The government of Seán Lemass initiated those efforts with his Minister for Industry and Commerce, Jack Lynch, playing a leading role.

Far from undermining our industrial base, the changes witnessed in the ensuing decades have enhanced our industrial position to a revolutionary degree. With seven years to adapt to the coming agricultural changes, there is the time and the expertise to cope.

What is needed is not further recrimination about the changes, but a collective determination on the part of government departments and other interested parties to prepare for those changes.