WTO warning

United Farmers from Mayo in Dublin last week with local TD Michael Ring and Mayo County Councillor John O’Malley.

Mayo warned it could lose €123 million in WTO deal

Anton McNulty

THE IFA have warned that Mayo could lose up to €123 million per year if the proposal by EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson to cut tariffs on beef imports to the EU at the World Trade Talks goes ahead.
Last Thursday, more than 10,000 farmers from all over Ireland, which included a strong delegation from Mayo, travelled to Dublin to highlight their fears about an unfavourable World Trade Organisation deal. Farming groups claim that Mr Mandelson is offering to cut tariffs on beef imports to the EU by 70 per cent and tariffs on other products by at least 50 per cent. This, they claim, would lead to the loss of 100,000 jobs on the land and the private sector because of the importation of cheap products.
Chairman of Mayo IFA, Martin Gavin, explained that the whole livestock sector would be affected by the deal and it could see livestock farming going down the same road as the sugar beet industry. He told The Mayo News that at present only a small amount of beef comes into Ireland from outside the EU but if the tariff is lowered more beef will enter the market, which will force Irish farmers to bring down costs they cannot afford.
“The figure calculated by the IFA estimates that Mayo will lose €123 million per annum. Farmers would be the most affected but people’s jobs in the factories and the feed suppliers will also be affected by it. Take €120 million out of circulation in any county and it will be felt. Some people will argue that food in the supermarkets will be cheaper but the last World Trade Talks affected the sugar beet industry. It resulted in the closure of plants in Tuam and Carlow but the bag of sugar in the shop did not get any cheaper,” he said.
Ireland is the fourth largest producer of beef in the world, exporting 500,000 tonnes of the 550,000 tonnes it produces every year. The difficulty facing the Irish farmer community is that agriculture does not affect other countries the same as it does Ireland. However, Martin said the Government had to put pressure on the EU Commission President, Jose Manuel Barroso, to stop Peter Mandelson from going ahead with his plans, and they could use the Lisbon Treaty referendum as a bargaining tool.
“Usually there is a bigger turn-out for referenda in rural areas and if there is a swing against it in the rural base they would definitely have a problem to have it passed. It would be hard for Padraig Walshe [IFA President] to tell people to vote Yes, if his members will be going out of business,” he said.
However, Seán Ó Neachtain, MEP for the North-West, said that a No vote would not put Ireland in a strong position in Europe, especially among the French, where he said support for the deal was not strong. Mr Ó Neachtain, who is Ireland’s only MEP on the European Parliament steering group committee on the WTO talks, said that while Peter Mandelson wanted to go ahead with the deal, he was hopeful the deal would not go ahead.
Meanwhile, yesterday (Monday) Mayo County Council were the latest county authority to pass a motion questioning the position of Trade Commissioner Peter Madelson in what was referred to as “a grave and unacceptable threat to Irish farming, food industry and employment”. The motion calls on the Ministers for Agriculture, Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Foreign Affairs and the Taoiseach to state their position on the matter. The motion was previously passed by county authorities in Cavan. Leitrim, Sligo, Donegal, Waterford and Wexford.