John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

Now we are told that the bulk of the compensation to come to Ireland as a result of the abandonment of thesugar sector could go to Greencore. What a disgrace that would be. I accept that the deal has been done but I do not accept that it had to go the way it did and I do not accept the waffle that passes for comment from people who say this deal is being done to benefit poor producers in Third World countries. The benefits of this, and any other fallback in the position of agriculture in the WTO talks, will be enjoyedby South American ranch owners who have thousands of acres and employ slave labour. These people have very poor standards of production, if any, and yet we saddle our producers with red tape and bureaucracy while asking them to compete at world market prices with producers who have no traceability or food safety standards.

The Common Agricultural Policy has been a success for the EU because it has ensured European consumers have relatively cheap, safe food. As supporters — and I am a staunch supporter — of the CAP we should not be afraid to say that. At a time when farmers have had to undergo this dramatic change with decoupling — and we have seen many payments, but not enough of them, in the last week or so — they are being presented with anotherpotential reform of the CAP if Mr. Mandelson gets his way. I ask the Minister to ensure he does not get his way. We will give whatever support we can in either House or in Europe. We all know the British Government's attitude to farmers. It would prefer if there were no farmers. The British Labour Party does not get agricultural votes and does not care about agriculture, but in this country we do care about agriculture. The Minister has a difficult task and I wish her the best of luck. I hope she will have the full support of her colleagues in Government because up to now she has not had enough support from them.