Tánaiste Mary Coughlan has this morning played down the effect of yesterday's collapse of World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations on Irish exporters.
The Irish Exporters' Association said today the failure of the talks was a very grave setback for Ireland and international trade in general.
But speaking on RTÉ radio's Morning Ireland, Ms Coughlan said although people wanted to see economic certainty, it was not a "meltdown situation" for exporters.
The Enterprise, Trade and Employment Minister said the Government was working in other areas, such as the Far East and South America, to seek new export markets. She added that Ireland always had access and opportunities in overseas markets, and that the WTO talks were to create greater certainty in export markets.
There was still "political direction" within the EU, according to Ms Coughlan, but she conceded there was now a new political landscape - with a new commission, new incoming US president, and an election in India - and that any new deal could be some time away.
The failure of the talks in Geneva, Switzerland after nine days of negotiations came after the United States and India refused to compromise over safeguard mechanism to protect farmers in developing states from agricultural imports.
In a statement this afternoon, Dr Martin Mansergh, Minister of State at the Department of Finance, said the breakdown in the WTO talks “will be a huge relief to Ireland’s hard-pressed farm sector”.
“No compelling evidence was ever produced of adequate compensating gains in exports of goods and services as a result of a Doha deal. Ireland . . . needed a far more balanced outcome than was in prospect on this occasion,” he said.
Dr Mansergh continued: “If and when negotiations resume it is to be hoped that the EU will be represented by a strong commissioner in whom there can be trust. The attempt to use this occasion to undermine the CAP, a long time British objective, has thankfully failed.”
He said if “international technical elites” wanted world trade agreements, “they are going to have to take a lot more seriously the strategic economic as well as social importance of food production and farming to most countries regardless of their level of income”.
Dr Mansergh congratulated the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and ministers for agriculture and trade “for their success in the difficult task of defending Ireland’s interest in the recent phase of WTO negotiations”.
But earlier today, European Commission director general for trade David O'Sullivan said the collapse was a “serious setback” that saw negotiators “snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.”
Mr O'Sullivan admitted he would not have predicted that the negotiations would fall on the issue of import controls, but he observed that India and the United States were looking over their shoulders at what they could sell to their domestic constituencies.
He argued that the risk of global protectionism, in terms of import tariffs, was now high amid tough economic conditions.
The commissioner said it would probably be a "year or two" before trade talks could restart, and that the resumption of these would inevitably be from where negotiations halted yesterday.
However, the president of the Irish Farmers' Association, Pádraig Walshe, said Ireland had been spared a damaging agreement that would have cost €4 billion in losses to agriculture and food industries.
Mr Walshe said the Irish beef industry could thank the French in large measure for our escape from this “catastrophe”. He said the determination with which President Sarkozy and the French government defended European agriculture was greatly admired and appreciated by Irish farmers
The IFA leader said he wanted to dispel the notion that the country had missed out on an opportunity as a result of the collapse of the talks.
He added that Peter Mandelson was an “inept negotiator” and repeated his call on the Tánaiste to support the French in now tearing up the EU WTO offer so as to start with a clean sheet for any future trade deal talks.
The Tánaiste said there was nothing on the negotiating table at the moment. Referring to the IFA praise for Mr Sarkozy, Ms Coughlan said it was important to state that the Government had been working very closely with the French and other like-minded countries on agriculture issues.
The Minister also rejected the argument that the Government was relieved that Mr Sarkozy had spoken up on agriculture during the talks, sparing it from having to do so.
Tom Arnold, chief executive of the charity Concern, said it was unfortunate that the WTO talks had collapsed, as poorer nations had an interest in a trading system with rules.
However, he pointed out that the middle-income countries that were integrated into the trading system stood to gain most, while the poorest countries that were not part of the system had little to gain from the WTO talks.
"Ultimately what the world trade system is about is rules that are fair to everybody, and if the rules are not pinned down . . . there is a risk that the strong get stronger, and the weak get weaker."
