Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)

For example, countries in the Balkans and Eastern European Baltic states applying for membership of the European Union have had to go through a process over a period and have had to reach an acceptable standard of human rights, not to mention economic competency, to be accepted. My concern is that it is clear the situation in Colombia is still serious. I listened to a presentation from a senior trade unionist in exile, Mr. Javier Orozco, who is touring the country addressing human rights activists and trade union members. He showed a documentary that was made by human rights organisations in various regions and cities of Colombia. I urge the Minister of State to try to access a copy of this because it is disturbing. The situation in Peru is similar. The bulk of civil society and trade union movements are opposed to the FTA there too because of the impact it would have.

There is a sense that while in Ireland we rightly defend the livelihood of our farmers, whenever there is a free trade agreement it can cause significant distortion for the small farmers in these countries in terms of what we give as subsidies to our farmers in that competition of produce. That is another big issue.

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