This article is from page 63 of the 2008-05-20 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 63 JPG
THE Lisbon treaty debate looks set to generate a number of political cas- ualties before it 1s settled, with Gal- way TD and former minister, Frank J Sr-V eToys DOM Maem ED UDO TCA DDELoM I STIMWV ole) .@
On Thursday, the President of IC- MSA, Jackie Cahill, lashed back at comments made by Fahey, in which the deputy said that farmers would be “foolhardy” to consider voting against the Lisbon Treaty in light of the monies they had received since EU accession.
“Deputy Fahey would serve us all better if he refrained from this kind of brazen condescension and tried
instead deploying a bit of reason and logic,” he said.
‘The idea that the EU or the EEC simply poured money into farmers’ pockets for the fun of it is both ab- surd and factually incorrect and it displays an ignorance of the real situ- ation that has bedevilled all attempts to get farmers to look at the Lisbon Treaty in its own right.
“We will not be emotionally black- mailed into any course of action that amounts to economic suicide. We will expect someone to set out the case for or against the Treaty based on cool calculation of our sector’s and our nation’s interest.
“The Taoiseach should now seize
the opportunity to clarify the posi- tion and set out the Irish Govern- ment’s approach to current and fu- ture farming policy. This applies to both EU and Irish policies and it most definitely includes the current WTO negotiations.”
The IFA had also words for Deputy Fahey last week when they claimed that he and Minister Eamon O’Cuiv had failed Irish farmers through their comments on the Lisbon Treaty.
“Irish farmers have not received anything more from Europe than other European farmers,’ said IFA Vice President Michael Silke.
“The Government needs to address the grave concerns in rural Ireland
over Mandelson’s sell-out of agricul- ture in the WTO negotiations. The western region would face farm rev- enue losses alone of €400m per year, with 1,500 jobs in food processing on the line and thousands more jobs lost in businesses servicing the agri- food sector.
“The Lisbon Treaty contains the original Treaty of Rome articles 38 — 44 establishing the Common Ag- ricultural Policy including specific commitments to assure the availabil- ity of food supplies, to stabilise mar- kets and to provide a fair standard of living for the agricultural com- munity, but Mandelson has blatantly disregarded these commitments.”