Farmers link new vote on Lisbon to trade deal
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FARMERS will not vote 'Yes' in any second Lisbon Treaty referendum if controversial World Trade Organisation proposals are implemented, the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) said yesterday.
This week's crucial talks in Geneva among European ministers will greatly influence voters countrywide in terms of any future vote as the current proposals would be "disastrous" for Irish farming, IFA President Padraig Walshe warned
"The decisions that are likely to be made in Geneva next week will have a profound effect on the attitude of rural voters across this country with regard to any future vote that may or may not happen," he said.
"We are talking about meltdown here in rural areas. We are talking about 50,000 jobs at least in the agri food sector. We are talking about at least 50,000 farmers and we are talking about the slaughter of at least a million suckler cows.
"It will be just unviable for those animals to be kept right across Ireland if (EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson) were to get his way."
Mr Walshe said the Taoiseach had already stated the deal on the table "would require Irish agriculture to bear a disproportionate burden with little gain for other sectors and was unacceptable to the Government".
He added that the concessions offered by Mr Mandelson would devastate rural Ireland and the Government should not hesitate to veto the deal.
"Irish food is good, but Irish food will not be produced if we have the threat of imports coming in at much lower prices at dubious standards where there is no question whatsoever of an equivalence in standards or equivalence in quality," he said.
"I will be calling on President Sarkozy, as president of the Council at the moment and president of Europe at the moment to... he has already spoken out quite strongly against Peter Mandelson and what Peter Mandelson is doing." He added that he would be urging him to "continue to do so and to keep in mind that the attitude of rural Ireland with regard to any future support for the whole European ideal will be profoundly damaged if Mandelson were to get his way."
His warning came as Fine Gael's Michael Creed urged the Taoiseach to veto the WTO deal if it is unacceptable to Ireland.
He claimed the talks were now entering a critical phase of development.
Humble banana could undermine WTO talks: Page 29
- Aine Kerr
