The IFA president, Mr John Dillon, has responded angrily to a report claiming the Government advised the EU Farm Commissioner, Mr Franz Fischler, to postpone his planned visit to Ireland until after the Nice referendum.
If the report in yesterday's Irish Farmers Journal was accurate, he said, "it smacks of political double dealing". Mr Dillon said he believed Mr Fischler had been pencilled in to visit Ireland on September 19th as part of his round of member-state consultations.
Demanding that the policy- makers responsible be named, Mr Dillon asked: "What do they think they are at?"
"If this report is true," he went on, "it is an insult to the intelligence of Irish farmers and smacks of the worst type of political and bureaucratic chicanery. The implications of the Fischler proposals are so serious for Ireland that there must be a full and open debate without this kind of political manipulation."
Mr Dillon said the report raised serious questions about the commitment of the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mr Walsh, to resisting the commissioner's CAP reform proposals.
He called on Mr Walsh to confirm or deny whether it was a policy of his Department to keep Mr Fischler out of the country until after the Nice referendum.