Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)

The American author, Mark Twain, once advised an audience to "invest in land because they're not making any more of it". We in Ireland, as members of initially the European Economic Community and latterly the European Union, have paid heed to that advice. One of the principal reasons for the establishment of the EEC in the early 1950s was to ensure that Europe, having suffered two catastrophic wars in the preceding 50 years, could always guarantee its citizens a food supply.

Since then, agriculture has advanced and the land and its productivity has been improved. There are standards of quality and a system of traceability for European food products. The issue of animal welfare has been taken seriously. In short, we have established a system in which consumers and farmers can have confidence.

This has taken some time to achieve and no other region in the world has paid this type of detailed attention to its agricultural economic sector. It now seems apparent that our EU trade negotiator, Mr. Peter Mandelson, is prepared to throw all this away without receiving any concessions on other matters on behalf of the European Union. Mr. Mandelson is following a historical British obsession with cheap food. The UK can no longer feed itself and this mode of thinking was fine when they had an empire behind them but we now live in a different world.

In World Trade Organisation talks, agriculture is at an advanced stage of conclusion, non-agricultural market access is at a stage of limited progress and there is absolutely no progress on services and trade rules. The Government amendment to this Private Members' motion notes that the Government is seeking an outcome to these WTO negotiations that is balanced across all the negotiating sectors. If that is the case, it is time for the Minister to wake up. The talks on agriculture face conclusion with little or no progress on other trade sectors. Are we to be part of a negotiating team that offers everything and gains little?

Our food industry is the largest Irish-owned manufacturing sector, accounting for over 50% of exports from Irish-owned manufacturing. Ireland's food and drink exports were worth €8.6 billion in 2007, representing 17% of Ireland's net export earnings. Farming, the food industry and the service industries depending on agriculture provide 300,000 jobs, which is 25% of all jobs outside the greater Dublin area. This WTO deal, as it currently stands, threatens these exports and 50,000 jobs in rural Ireland.

The Trade Commissioner negotiates on behalf of the EU on the basis of a mandate agreed by the Council of Ministers. This mandate is based on protecting the European model of agriculture, with the family farm structure being the cornerstone. This has formed and should continue to form a basis for sustainable development reflecting the multifunctional nature of agriculture and the part it plays in our economy and the environment.

Former Agriculture Commissioner, Franz Fischler, assured Irish farmers in 2003 that they would not have to make any further concessions following the reform of the CAP. This was in essence how we in the European Union prepared for this round of WTO talks and yet we find ourselves today having gone beyond that position with no obvious direction from the Council of Ministers.

The idea of transporting food around the world for consumption in Europe and the impact of this transportation on the environment should be of interest to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley. Beef from Brazil, lamb from New Zealand, grain from South America and chicken from Asia would indicate that we will no doubt make worse the already serious issue of climate change which is so dear to his heart.

In terms of the environment, the example of Brazil is worth noting. Between May 2000 and August 2006, Brazil lost nearly 150,000 sq. km of forest, an area larger than Greece, and since 1970, over 600,000 sq. km of Amazon rain forest has been destroyed. This has not been led by conventional farmers in the European sense but rather by large ranchers and speculators.

The Minister must not fall into the trap of thinking that protection of the single farm payment will suffice and keep people happy at this time. This is not at issue here. This is not a time for presentation and mealy-mouthed responses. The Minister previously failed to acknowledge the seriousness of the deficiencies of Brazilian beef and at this time both she and the Taoiseach need to send out a strong and unequivocal signal from the Council of Ministers that this deal in its current state is just not on.

Mark Twain was wise in his advice. We in Europe have invested so much to get where we are today. Our systems are perfect for the future, systems that protect our environment, our people and a safe food supply. It is critical that the Government acts now and acts decisively to protect our agricultural economy.

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