The Department of Agriculture and the Irish Farmers' Association last night dismissed calls by the Archbishop of Dublin for subsidised farming to be phased out, saying such measures were already taking place.
The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, yesterday called for an immediate phasing out of export subsidies for farmers, describing subsidised agriculture as an unsustainable option for Ireland.
Speaking in Davos, where he is attending the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, Dr Martin told The Irish Times that it was time to look at new ways to help people to remain on the land.
"Why should they be the privileged? If I open up a store making watches, the Government is not going to subsidise me to export them to Switzerland . . . They are in a situation, which is unsustainable. It has its own historical roots but now we have to go forward with a clear vision to find other ways," he said.
Dr Martin said that phasing out export subsidies should begin "straight away" but that Irish farming needed a more fundamental review to ensure that subsidies did not distort trade at the expense of the world's poorest countries.
"It's very clear that a subsidised farm system has no long-term sustainability for Ireland and it's time that everybody realised that. We have to find other ways so that people who are working in this area can earn livelihoods on the land which are, in the long-term, sustainable," he said.
The European Union has agreed to phase out agricultural export subsidies as part of a new world trade deal but no timetable has been set. Ireland and France are the EU's most fervent advocates of generous subsidies for farmers.
Dr Martin praised the increase in recent years of Ireland's development aid to poor countries but suggested that it was too early to tell if the great generosity shown in the aftermath of the tsunami crisis signalled a new pattern of giving. He said that the public needed to feel sure that the money was being spent properly.
"I'm very happy that the Government has nominated an envoy to examine exactly if this money is used for the purposes it is destined for. Alongside the generosity, there is in the media and in public opinion a certain scepticism about the ability of the aid organisations to use this money properly," he said.
The Department of Agriculture last night said the issue of subsidies was one that had already begun to be addressed by the EU. A spokesman for the Department said the introduction by the European Commission of new payment methods to farmers already brought radical change to the sector.
"With discussions taking place at WTO level later in the year, the EU is reducing the subsidies with an eye to those talks. Such changes cannot be brought about overnight and must be phased over a period of time," a spokesman said.
The IFA said a "decisive shift in the Common Agriculture Policy has already taken place under the Fischler reforms".
A spokesman said: "With the new decoupling plan which came into effect on January 1st, there is a strong move away from subsidies on production. Under the new policy, Irish and European farmers are compensated for the additional costs they encounter in meeting the highest food quality and safety conditions, environmental and animal standards in the world."
The IFA said that of all the major trading blocks in the world, European countries offered the greatest access to the world's poorest countries under the Everything but Arms (EBA) scheme.
Under the EBA programme, 49 of the world's most economically disadvantaged countries were set to get quota-free and levy-free access to the European market.