Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy Creed for his good wishes. I look forward to working with him and his colleagues in the Fine Gael Party, Deputy Sherlock and all Members in the best interests of Irish agriculture.

The Falconer paper was published last night but I had to attend a Government meeting and did not have an opportunity to read it yet but my officials will work on that immediately. We will be involved in the consultative group as well in an early meeting regarding the most recent paper that has just been published. We have major concerns about where we are in these negotiations. Some of the proposals that originated from Geneva would have serious consequences for European Union agriculture. For Ireland, the consequences of a bad deal would be particularly severe for the beef industry but other sectors such as dairy, sheepmeat and pigmeat will feel the impact also. That is the reason we are so determined to fight this measure.

As a trading country we are committed to the growth of international trade. That is for the benefit of both the urban and the rural economies but we do not want a deal that will sacrifice agriculture.

Deputy Creed, in the second part of his question and also in his supplementary, asked about the status of the veto. Deputy Creed may not have had the opportunity to hear the Taoiseach confirm recently in the House, in answering a question from the Leader of the Opposition, Deputy Enda Kenny, that we have the option on a veto but we are not at that stage. We share the concerns of Members and the agricultural community in general. The reality is the Commission is working to a mandate from the European Council and as Deputy Creed is aware, the Commissioner must work to that mandate on the agriculture side in line with the Council mandate. That is the position.

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