FARMERS:IRISH FARMERS' Association president Pádraig Walshe sharply criticised Taoiseach Brian Cowen last night on the eve of the organisation's executive council meeting to decide its stance on the Lisbon Treaty.
Mr Walshe said he simply could not understand Mr Cowen's "obstinate refusal" to publicly commit to vetoing cuts to agriculture supports proposed in the world trade talks by EU commissioner Peter Mandelson.
"I do not accept Brian Cowen's unwillingness to pledge the veto as a smart tactical move on his part," said Mr Walshe in a statement.
"It appears to me the Government has chosen to keep its options open on a trade deal where, unquestionably, agriculture and rural Ireland will pay the price."
The State's second largest farm organisation, the ICMSA, decided at the weekend to recommend a Yes vote in the Lisbon referendum to its members.
This followed a meeting with Mr Cowen at which he assured them that the Government would not accept a World Trade Organisation (WTO) deal that was unbalanced and undermined farmers' interests.
Mr Walshe, however, accused the Government yesterday of keeping secret "the facts and figures on the job losses and damage to farming and the food industry from the Mandelson/WTO deal".
"The figures have been done and I question the Taoiseach why they have been suppressed," he said.
Last night Government sources indicated that Mr Cowen had given Irish farmers every possible assurance short of saying that a veto would be used. The sources said that if the Taoiseach were to use the word veto, it would have deeply negative implications.
They added that the IFA should know that exercising a veto before talks take place is not realistic in a European context.Mr Walshe repeated his assertion that the world trade deal being proffered by Mr Mandelson could see 50,000 farmers and 50,000 food processing jobs lost and €4 billion wiped from the Irish economy.
IFA deputy president Derek Deane said "aggressive pressure" from Fianna Fáil politicians and Yes vote campaigners including former taoiseach Garret FitzGerald and Labour TD Ruairí Quinn had provoked a negative reaction from delegates to the IFA executive council, which meets today.
He said Mr Quinn was one of the last people in the country who should be ringing up IFA county chairmen telling the organisation how it should vote and how it should do its business.
In response, the Irish Alliance for Europe, which is chaired by Mr Quinn and supported by Dr FitzGerald, said it had been in contact with the IFA and hoped the farm body would support a Yes vote. "It is our mission as a civil society organisation to ensure the maximum possible Yes vote.
"In this context we would be remiss in our duties as advocates of a Yes vote if we did not attempt to engage with both the Government and the IFA with a view to assisting them with the current impasse," it said.