EU farm policy defended by Walsh

DETRACTORS of EU farm policy including some Irish non-governmental organisations were sharply criticised yesterday by Agriculture and Food Minister Joe Walsh.

He said they must not get away with the fallacy that the EU has a bad record in supporting farming in Third World countries.

Mr Walsh said he would like to see more acknowledgement of the critical facts by some Irish NGOs, rather than their apparently tacit support for the powerful CAP detractors in the developed world, who do comparatively little for the Third World.