FARMERS' WARNING:THE IRISH Farmers' Association last night increased its pressure on the Government by outlining 10 reasons why farmers could not be expected to vote Yes in the Lisbon referendum.
The association, which had originally committed itself to recommending a Yes vote in the referendum, withdrew that commitment because of the negotiating position of the European Commission on agriculture in the world trade talks.
While the association has not, as yet, advised its members to vote No, it has been calling on the Government to give a commitment to veto a world trade deal which would be harmful to Irish and European agricultural interests.
Over the weekend, IFA president Pádraig Walshe said there was growing concern among farmers at the lack of commitment from the Government to veto the cuts proposed by EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson in the World Trade Organisation negotiations.
He said the Government had successfully vetoed tax harmonisation and farmers were questioning if there was a trade-off for this at the expense of agriculture and farming generally.
Mr Walshe said farmers would not support a referendum "at a time when European leaders like Mandelson are destroying their livelihoods and handing European food production over to South American ranchers".
In a statement last night, Mr Walshe went on to outline 10 reasons why the Government could not expect farmers to vote Yes. These were that the Mandelson proposals would:
• mean the abolition of the Common Agricultural Policy;
• lead to the destruction of the farm family model of
European agriculture;
• hand the European food market to South American
ranchers, international shippers and commodity traders;
• lead a "race to the bottom" on food safety, animal
health standards, labour conditions and environmental degradation;
• mean beef prices of €2/kg (70p/lb) and the
slaughter of one million suckler cows;
• result in milk prices of 24c/ litre and increased
imports of dairy products;
• increase lamb imports from New Zealand and Australia
that would decimate the sheep industry;
• result in losses in pigs, poultry and grain;
• result in the loss of 50,000 farmers and 50,000 jobs
in the food-processing sector and
• result in a €4 billion loss in earnings for the
Irish economy.
Separately yesterday, EU commissioner Charlie McCreevy called for the Yes side in the debate to ensure a sufficient turnout of voters on polling day.
Speaking in Dublin, Mr McCreevy said the treaty could be approved if the Yes side ensured "a certain level of turnout". He stopped short of saying he was confident of victory, remarking "that is a different thing altogether".
Mr McCreevy said he had no hesitation in saying he believed that voting Yes was "in the best interests of Ireland".