The I.F.A. have baaaaaaaaaaaaaad YES to Lisbon ‘cos Cowen said he’d veto any bad deal for Irish farmers at the World Trade Talks.

Fools!

The IFA is to recommend a Yes vote in the Lisbon Treaty referendum following a last-minute pledge by the Taoiseach to veto any world trade deal that is bad for Irish farmers.

The organisation’s 85,000 members had been due to reject the Treaty but president Padraic Walsh is now expected to urge full support for the national vote on June 12.

The 52-member IFA Executive Council came to a unanimous decision to support a Yes vote.

“The Taoiseach today assured the IFA that he was prepared to use the veto if a deal that is unacceptable to Ireland is put to a vote,” said a Government spokeswoman.

The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association decided on Sunday to recommend a Yes vote to its members.

Padraic Walshe said today’s signal from the Taoiseach should cause EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson to ‘rethink his strategy’ on agriculture, but said Mr Cowen himself would have to explain the reasoning for his stance.

Did ye not know that Fianna Fáil have great experience at making and breaking promises?

You can’t say you weren’t warned:

The IFA’s last minute U-turn on the Lisbon treaty was “disappointing, but totally to be expected” Libertas executive director Naoise Nunn said this evening.

Nunn said that IFA President Padraig Walshe had been eager to “avoid the blame” for a No vote.

“The fact of the matter is that the position of ordinary Irish farmers is exactly the same now as it was this morning,” said Nunn. “Nothing happened today to reassure farmers that their future is secure.

“If there is a Yes vote, and in 10 years time, Irish farming is in its death throes, people will look back at June 3, 2008 as the day the IFA signed the warrant for its own execution.”

“There is no veto right on WTO talks. The IFA may have chosen not to believe this now, but in the next few months, if the treaty is passed, they will come to see exactly what we mean.”

Sinn Féin spokesperson on agriculture Martin Ferris echoed these sentiments.

“Assurances from Brian Cowan on the use of Ireland’s veto on international trade agreements not in Ireland’s interests are simply not worth the paper they are written on,” he said.

“[How can] the Irish Government commit to using a veto if in fact that veto does not exist.

“I put it to Brian Cowan that the reason the Government has spent months hand wringing on this issue and has made today’s commitment to the IFA at the 11th hour is because he knows that the treaty text does not support his claim on the veto.”

All together now ……………………… baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

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