Irish Beef Hangs on A Government Veto
IRELAND - IFA President Padraig Walshe told Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith in Geneva this morning that the Government must veto the tariff concessions offered by Peter Mandelson, or the Irish beef industry will be sold out to the Brazilians and the Americans before the weekend.
24 July 2008
1 minute read
* "Farmers will see through any attempt by Minister Smith to use the Single Farm Payment in a damage limitation exercise" |
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Padraig Walshe, IFA President.
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Padraig Walshe clashed with Minister Smith, accusing him of raising threats to the Single Farm Payment, when the real issues are the tariff cuts that would wipe out the beef industry, reduce milk prices to 24 cent a litre and destroy the sheep industry.
He said, “farmers will see through any attempt by Minister Smith to use the Single Farm Payment in a damage limitation exercise after a bad WTO deal. Rather than pretending to have saved the Single Farm Payment, Minister Smith should be applying all the Government forces in defending the beef, dairy and sheep industries.”
Mandelson’s concessions are continuing to mount, and in his latest statement, beef imports would pass 2 million tonnes within 18 months of a WTO deal being signed.
Mr Walshe said every hour the Geneva talks continue, Mandelson is doing more damage.
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