Coughlan giving away too much - IFA

REACTION: EU TRADE Commissioner Peter Mandelson must be told by Irish negotiators that the emerging World Trade Organisation (WTO) deal on agriculture is "unacceptable to Ireland", the president of the Irish Farmers Association has said.

Speaking as he left for Geneva yesterday, where WTO talks are ongoing, Pádraig Walshe said Tánaiste and Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan was giving too many concessions to Mr Mandelson. Ms Coughlan is leading negotiations on behalf of Ireland.

Mr Walshe said Europe was now offering Brazil the right to export 1.8 million tonnes of beef to Europe, and this would "wipe out" the Irish livestock industry.

Ireland's best interests would be protected by supporting the French, he said. Last Thursday French president Nicolas Sarkozy said France would not sign the agreement if it was not modified. Mr Sarkozy has threatened to veto any deal that forces cuts in the tariffs that protect EU farmers from imports from developing states like Brazil without getting access to new markets for EU industry.

Mr Walshe said Mr Mandelson, was pushing through the farm cuts and was a proxy for the British government, which "always wanted to destroy European agriculture from within the EU".

"Now Mandelson and the British government are using the WTO negotiations to achieve the same result, with the aid of Brazil and South American interests," he said. The Tánaiste must put down a clear marker, he continued, or the beef industry here could be wiped out.

Separately, Mr Walshe met Taoiseach Brian Cowen at his home in Co Offaly on Saturday, during a protest by some 50 farmers outside Mr Cowen's constituency office in Tullamore. The meeting, which lasted for some 30 minutes, was also attended by the IFA's Offaly chairman, Aidan Larkin.

The Irish Exporters Association, in contrast, has welcomed the emerging deal. Association chief executive John Whelan said the deal was good news for international trade and good news for Irish exporters.

"It will bring benefits to a wide range of Irish exporters if ratified, including processed food producers, pharmaceutical producers, computer, IT and services producers."

The spin-off for Irish exporters would be twofold, he said.

"On the one hand we will gain from a reduction in the cost of doing business in non-EU countries, which accounted for €32.8 billion of merchandise trade last year and €25.6 billion of services trade. This [ gain] is estimated at €475 million per year when the full extent of the tariff and mutual technical and customs measures are implemented.

"And on the other hand there is the boost to international trade which is anticipated to emerge from a successful Doha round completion. This is conservatively estimated to be of the order of $1 trillion. The net effect for Irish exports in this scenario would be a boost of €15 billion in our total exports."