THE FARM organisations brought more than 10,000 protesters to Dublin's streets yesterday and delivered a message to the Government and the EU that a bad deal for farming in the world trade talks would bring a rejection of the Lisbon Treaty.
In an impressive show of unity, over 1,000 agri-businesses closed their doors from noon to 3pm to highlight the sector's fears about an unfavourable World Trade Organisation deal.
The farm organisations claim that EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson is offering to cut tariffs on beef imports to the EU by 70 per cent and tariffs on other products by at least 50 per cent.
This would lead to the loss of 100,000 jobs on the land and in the service sector, said Irish Farmers' Association president Pádraig Walshe.Cheap imports would flood Europe, making Irish and European farmers redundant, he claimed.
He said Mr Mandelson was getting nothing in return for offering European agriculture, food security and jobs in a "jumble sale" to the rest of the world.
"The Lisbon Treaty referendum is on the 12th of June.
"For farmers, the referendum decision comes on the 20th of May. That is the date Mandelson will be in Geneva and he has a decision to make.
"Sell us out and we'll have our say on the 12th of June," he said.
The protest was called to coincide with the visit to Dublin of European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso.
Mr Walshe reminded the gathering that in January he had said he would be recommending a "yes" vote in the referendum.
"Since then Mandelson has completely undermined our position and I want to put it on the record today: if the sell-out goes ahead on May 20th in Geneva, then I will not ask farmers to support a commission that has destroyed the future of our farm and food industry." he said.
That was the message he wanted to impart to Mr Barroso, he said.
Mr Walshe said he also had a clear message for the Government.
"Don't come back from Geneva having sold us out and expect farm families - thousands of workers in the food industry that will lose their job, hundreds of rural businesses that will have to close down - don't expect us to do your bidding in the referendum," he said.
Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association president Jackie Cahill said it was significant that the protesters were going to Dublin Castle, no longer the seat of a foreign power in Ireland.
"Is the commission on our side, or is it now acting like a colonial foreign power of bygone days? What input did we have to the WTO proposals? The answer is none. We weren't asked and we are to be told what is to become of our livelihoods after that has been decided," he said.
Mr Cahill asked who was giving Mr Mandelson his power and authority to sell out European agriculture.
"Who governs Europe? Is it sovereign governments or unelected bureaucrats?" he asked.
"It is pointless to pretend that Lisbon and the outcome of WTO are not related. Farmers in the past were pro-Europe," he said.
"We most definitely will not agree to a situation where the commission are about to sell away our rights in the interest of so-called free trade," he said.
Macra na Feirme president, Katherine Buckley, called on the Government to reject any deal based on current proposals.
This stance was supported by Padraig Gibbons, the president of the Irish Co-operative Movement.
Mr Barroso, speaking in Dublin Castle, said if agreement was reached in the world trade talks, Ireland, like others, would have to focus more on markets and on high quality food production.
"But this should not be too big a challenge for you, with your extensive grassland production.
"We are working hard in the negotiations to minimise the impact on Ireland and I believe that Ireland is already well positioned in the quality end of the beef market," he said.