28/07/2008

IFA Claim Compromise WTO Proposals Will Damage Irish Industry

The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) has said the compromise proposal over a new global trade deal will seriously damage Irish farming.

The agreement, would lead to a 23% reduction in EU beef tariffs over the next five years, as well as an import quota of 290,000 tonnes at very low tariff rates.

IFA president Padraig Walshe says this would seriously damage Irish agriculture and is not acceptable to Irish farmers.

On Sunday, Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith, who's at the negotiations, said the deal on the table is unacceptable at the moment.

The negotiations are an attempt to secure a new agreement that would allow developed and developing countries greater access to one another's markets.

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson has indicated his support for the deal and says the vast majority of EU states are backing the compromise.

He has also insisted that there is nothing in the proposals that would undermine "any part of European agriculture".

(DW/JM)

Related Irish News Stories
Click here for the latest headlines.

16 May 2008
'Large Irish Presence' At Cannes
The focal point for the Irish film industry at the Cannes Film Festival, the Irish Pavilion, has opened again for business this week, with over 200 of the leading lights of the Irish film industry flying out to the festival to promote and sell new Irish cinema.
07 May 2008
Irish Farmers 'Getting Their Facts Wrong': Mandelson
European Commissioner Peter Mandelson has accused the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) of lying to voters regarding the upcoming Lisbon Treaty. On Tuesday, the IFA warned of a 'No' vote if its concerns about Mr Mandelson's World Trade Organisation talks, which are taking place in Doha in Qatar, were not allayed.
25 August 2016
Minister for Arts To Attend Culture Summit In Edinburgh
The Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Heather Humphreys, is to attend the Edinburgh International Culture Summit. Minister Humphreys will attend a number of meetings during her visit, including Fiona Hyslop MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs.
18 November 2010
Irish Guardsman Dies In Afghan Firefight
The Stormont First Minister Peter Robinson has this morning expressed his sympathy to the family of a soldier from the 1st Battalion Irish Guards who has been killed in Afghanistan. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced that he was shot in an ambush while patrolling in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand Province yesterday afternoon.
30 June 2010
Russian Espionage Scandal Used Irish Passports
It has emerged that at least one false Irish passport was used by a Russian spy ring allegedly operating in the US. The passport is said to have been passed to a Richard Murphy, who is among 11 people currently under trail in Manhattan Federal court, charged with being a Russian spy.