Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Question 74: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the content of her recent discussions with the EU Trade Commissioner in relation to the World Trade Organisation arrangements; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24614/06]

Jim Glennon (Dublin North, Fianna Fail)
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Question 75: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food her assessment of the state of the World Trade Organisation negotiations; and her efforts to protect the agriculture sector here. [24477/06]

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Question 91: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the status of the WTO talks; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23628/06]

Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 95: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the action she is taking to protect agriculture here in the forthcoming World Trade Organisation talks; if the EU Commissioner for Trade is visiting Ireland in the near future; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24613/06]

Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Question 100: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food if her attention has been drawn to the fact that the Agriculture Commissioner, Ms Bohl, reportedly intends to go beyond her mandate in signing off an agreement for the EU at the World Trade Organisation negotiations; and if she and the Government will request that no signing of an agreement takes place before the Council of Ministers has considered and decided on details and implications of draft proposals from the WTO talks in Geneva. [24629/06]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Question 141: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the status of the Doha round negotiations of the World Trade Organisation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24592/06]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 74, 75, 91, 95, 100 and 141 together.

The current negotiations on a new WTO Agreement, which cover a broad trade liberalisation agenda, have been under way since they were launched in Doha in November 2001. Significant progress towards concluding an agreement has been made in the Framework Agreement which was reached in August 2004 and at the Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong in December 2005. The Hong Kong Conference set clear deadlines for the completion of the negotiations on agriculture. End April 2006 was set as the deadline for the completion of the modalities, or detailed provisions, of the new agreement and a deadline of end July 2006 was set for the submission of schedules, or specific commitments, by all WTO member countries. Despite intensive negotiations, the end of April deadline has passed without the planned progress on modalities. A further WTO Ministerial meeting will be held later this week, commencing on 29 June in Geneva, with a view to making further progress towards a final agreement.

In overall terms, I am seeking a balanced WTO agreement both as between the different aspects of the negotiations and between the various elements of the agreement on agriculture. My overriding objective is to ensure the final agreement will not require a further reform of the Common Agriculture Policy. This represents the limit of the EU Commission's negotiating mandate as agreed, and endorsed on several occasions, by the Council of Ministers. The Commission negotiates in the WTO on behalf of the EU and is obliged to seek the agreement of the Council to amend the mandate or to commit the EU to an agreement which exceeds the mandate. The Council of General Affairs and External Relations Ministers will be meeting in special session in Geneva this week to monitor progress and to provide direction to the Commission in the ongoing negotiations. EU acceptance of the final agreement will have to be approved by the Council.

I have had bilateral meetings with the Commissioners for Trade and Agriculture and Rural Development earlier in the year and I outlined to them in the clearest terms that the Commission must remain within the terms of its negotiating mandate and protect the CAP from further reform. I have also expressed my position in the strongest possible terms in the Council of Agriculture Ministers at every opportunity in recent months, most recently at the 19 June meeting. My colleague the Minister for Foreign Affairs also stated the Irish position at the meeting of the Council of General Affairs and External Relations Ministers on 12 June. I have been, and will continue, to work closely with Ministers in like-minded Member States to seek support for my position. While the Commission has indicated that the EU should move once there is significant movement in relation to various issues by the negotiating partners, I am not aware of any statement by the Commission that it will exceed its mandate.

A recent planned visit by Commissioner Mandelson was cancelled. I am not aware that arrangements are being made to reschedule this meeting in the near future.

I will be attending the WTO Ministerial meeting in Geneva later this week and I will continue to take an active role in seeking the best possible outcome for Irish and EU agriculture in the negotiations. My specific priorities are:

On domestic supports, to ensure that the EU's system of decoupled direct payments to farmers continue to qualify as non-trade-distorting payments under the so-called WTO Green Box and so remain exempt from reductions under the new round,

On Export Subsidies, to ensure that full parallel elimination of all forms of export subsidies is undertaken by all WTO member countries, as agreed in the WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong, and that the most flexible phasing-out arrangements for EU export refunds are achieved,

On Market Access, to retain the maximum possible level of protection against increased imports into the EU, especially in sectors in which Ireland has particular interests, through minimising tariff cuts, establishing sensitive product status where necessary and through the continuation of an effective Safeguard Clause.