Warnings that a Yes vote in the Lisbon referendum would jeopardise farm succession rights and lead to a massive influx of Turkish farmers into the European Union were issued by a new farm lobby group which is campaigning against the Treaty.
Chairman of Farmers for No and former chairman of Irish Farmers’ Association in Longford, James Reynolds also sharply criticised IFA President Padraig Walshe for supporting the Treaty.
Launching the group at a press conference in Buswells Hotel in Dublin, Mr Reynolds said: “Lisbon removes our World Trade Organisation veto in Article 188.”
“Many of you will be aware that last year, the IFA were very active in the campaign against former trade commissioner Peter Mandelson who was attempting to sell out farmers, not only Irish farmers but European farmers, in the world trade talks.”
In addition, Lisbon was “a power-grab by the big states” in the EU.
“Our voting-weight as a member-state diminishes from 2 per cent, as it currently is under the Nice Treaty rules, to 0.8 per cent,” he said.
A third reason was that, “The Lisbon Treaty is a proxy vote on Turkish accession, it allows for a country of 75m people to enter the European Union which would in fact double the number of farmers we have while retaining the Common Agricultural Policy budget at existing levels.”
Another issue was “the culture of hyper-regulation from Brussels”.
Farmers were prohibited from spreading slurry in the winter months; sheep-grazing on hills and mountains and family turf-cutting were banned; excessive water-charges were being imposed.
“European Commission proposals on inheritance law would prevent farmers passing on family farms as a single working unit: that’s unacceptable.”
He claimed: “The secretary general of the Commission, who is an Irishwoman, Catherine Day, was instrumental in concealing, or hiding from, the general public the intention of the European Commission to harmonise inheritance and succession law which would be based on a Napoleonic Code-type system rather than the common law system that we have here.
“In other words, if a farmer had decided to bequeath or will a family farm to a son or daughter, other family members, even those who have emigrated, can challenge that will under such a proposal by the EU Commission and the danger is that, if the Lisbon Treaty is ratified, that will come into effect.”
Former independent MEP for Munster, Kathy Sinnott, who lost her seat in last June’s elections, criticised farmers’ leader Padraig Walshe: “It is very, very sad to see the head of the IFA - someone who would have lobbied me for five years saying, ‘Europe doesn’t seem to understand farming, so please try to tell people this reality and that reality’ - now advocating that Europe have more and more control, and the [European] Parliament - which he was fighting all the time, a largely-urban parliament - to have more and more decision-making on farming.
“I can only say that he is the director, he is the commander-in-chief of the European farmers’ organisation, and is he speaking for Irish farming or is he speaking for European farming, when he asks us to vote for Lisbon?
“The one thing I do know is, he hasn’t asked the farmers this time around – was he afraid to?”
Responding later, an IFA spokesman said: “The IFA has 85,000 members and our executive council unanimously endorsed a Yes vote in the Lisbon referendum on 21st July. The council is the democratically-elected governing body of the association and represents all the counties and all commodities.
“Farmers are aware that Ireland needs to stay at the heart of Europe and win over friends and allies, in order to influence important decisions.
“The defeat of the Libertas candidates who pitched for the farm vote in the Euro-elections shows that farmers see their best interests being served by supporting Lisbon.
“IFA is campaigning for a Yes vote from rural Ireland and will be encouraging all farm families to come out and vote Yes.”
