Farming groups have reacted with relief to the collapse of the WTO talks in Cancún on Sunday, claiming the draft agricultural agreement down for negotiation would have had very serious negative implications for Irish farming.

However, employers' group IBEC described the collapse of the talks as a "missed opportunity". It said Cancún could have secured improved access for Irish industry to lucrative markets outside the EU.

Trócaire said while the collapse of the talks was a "moral victory" for the developing world, it was still left with "the present unjust system".

The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) president, Mr John Dillon, said: "IFA's assessment is that if the WTO paper eliminating all export refunds had been agreed it would have cost the Irish economy €500 million in export earnings, and would put at risk 20,000 farm families and many jobs in the rural economy."

He added blame for the collapse of the talks lay with large exporting nations such as Brazil, Australia and New Zealand. They had been "utterly unreasonable and unrealistic in their demands", Mr Dillon said.

The EU Trade Commissioner, Mr Pascal Lamy, and the Agriculture Commissioner, Dr Franz Fischler, should now either enter into direct trade agreements with poorer nations, or put forward proposals for a "complete revamping of the WTO procedures and arrangements", he said.

The president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association, Mr Pat O'Rourke, said no deal from Cancún was "better than a bad deal". The proposals on export refunds, Mr O'Rourke said, could have amounted to the complete abolition of all export subsidies over the next five years.

Mr Pat Ivory, a trade specialist working with IBEC, said the EU had entered into the talks "in a very positive manner".

The WTO now needed to concentrate on making progress on the so-called Singapore issues, on investment, competition, trade facilitation and the environment, he said.

"The EU has shown it is willing to make concessions, but this has not been matched by other WTO nations, including the US. We have a situation now where, for example, US agricultural policy is becoming more protectionist."

Trócaire's director, Mr Justin Kilcullen, said a successful outcome at Cancún could have "raised millions of people out of poverty".

"Developed and developing countries face a huge task in rescuing the WTO from impending obscurity. That will depend on the WTO members coming up with trade rules that enable the poor countries to develop, while allowing the global economy to flourish."