Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)

The European Commission's WTO negotiating position is not the deal that Irish farmers signed up to when agreeing to the mid-term review of CAP in 2003 and the introduction of the single farm payment.

It is unacceptable for the European Commission to put together a deal on agriculture under the mid-term review, setting out the spending and funding measures for farmers up to 2013 and now try to use the WTO as an excuse to renegotiate the deal. The European Commission cannot and must not be allowed to renege on its commitment. While it is the objective of some of the international trading blocs and the Trade Commissioner, Peter Mandelson, with the support of some member states, to dismantle CAP, it should be pointed out that this will have dangerous repercussions.

We should not forget that one of the fundamental objectives of the original EEC was to guarantee food security for Europe in light of the devastation and inability to import food during the Second World War. As a result, Europe's agricultural production is a lot higher than it would have been and, traditionally, world food prices were a lot lower because of subsidised production in Europe.

While the threats to food security and its definition are a lot different today, the fact remains that we in Europe must be able to control food prices and we must be able to feed our own people. The mid-1970s saw a world food crisis caused by a combination of factors, including an oil crisis, drought across many major grain producing regions of the world and unfolding humanitarian disasters in South Asia and the Horn of Africa, all putting increased pressure on emergency grain stocks. Many of those issues are arising today. The experts claim that we will soon reach peak oil production, which will lead to a shortage of oil. However, on this occasion not only have we to worry about the traditional impact that this has had on food supplies, but now we have an added one in that food is being diverted into fuel production and this acts with a multiplier effect to deepen any food shortage. The consequence is that land and crops which might otherwise contribute to global food security will be devoted to satisfying the growing fuel demand.

The Trócaire television advertising campaign shows the impact that global warming can have on developing countries such as those in Africa and this can also impact on the major food producing regions of the world. Grain prices rose dramatically in 2006-07 as a result of poor weather conditions. One example was hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005, which had a significant impact on the ability of the US to export grain and which contributed to an increase in the world cost of grain. Sadly, humanitarian disasters in Africa and Asia are as big a threat today as they ever were not only as a result of global warming, but also because of the political instability in many of these countries. I refer to the example of Zimbabwe, the bread basket of Africa, where one man has destroyed the economy and the agricultural capacity of that country. All these factors are feeding into the increasing price on the supermarket shelves of basic food products and this trend will only go one way unless action is taken now.

Yet with all these potential threats, we have found ourselves in a situation today that is unprecedented in modern times, where world food stocks are at an all-time low. Today there is less than a 30-day supply of food available to feed the world. With a food shortage, the peoples of Africa and Asia will become the food security migrants of the next decade. This will bring with it further challenges for our immigration system and that of our EU neighbours. By prioritising the issue of food security at EU and WTO level, everybody can benefit. By ignoring it, food will become more expensive and due to immigration into Ireland and other EU countries, there will be significantly more people to feed.

The key question for Europe and its people is whether we want Peter Mandelson to open up Europe to free trade in food with the consequent impact on food security and cost in order that we can have cheap imported toys, electronics and clothes. This is a critical issue for the Commission and we must reject the proposals on sensitive food products.

I call on the incoming Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Cowen, to go to the capital cities of the member states and tell them that this proposal is unacceptable to Ireland and that we will reject it.

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