Tánaiste Mary Coughlan has said the Government is unhappy with the compromise proposal currently being considered as the basis for a future global trade deal but she said the "parameters of a deal" have now been established.
Ms Coughlan insisted that Ireland will not issue a veto over the current session of World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations, which are continuing in Geneva.
"This idea of using the word veto at this stage is very dangerous. At this point of time we do not have a deal. This is not the place that a final decision will be made. That decision will be made in six months time," Ms Coughlan told The Irish Times.
Ms Coughlan said wielding a veto over a process involving 153 countries was the last “click of the dice” and would not happen before a final undertaking later this year.
Speaking on RTÉ radio today, Ms Coughlan said the "parameters of a deal" now existed following talks last night, but that agreement was "a long way from a final deal".
Ms Coughlan said discussions had taken place today on the services issue and there had been "good progress" in that area. She said some 43 per cent of Ireland's exports were from the services sector, including the banking and financial services sector.
In the farming sector, she said the Government had articulated its "unhappiness" in this area. But she noted that the only agicultural product which now had "sensitive" status in the talks was beef.
Ms Coughlan told The Irish Timesshe did not believe anything would be put forward in the coming days that would require a vote.
"I can’t say that this process will even be brought to finality on Tuesday or Wednesday," she said.
The Government had always looked for a "balanced deal" and while there was progress in some areas, there was still sensitivity in others.
The Irish Famers Association (IFA) has been pressing the Government to wield its veto over the talks, which are aiming to liberalise world trade in agriculture, goods and services. It has warned that the tariff cuts outlined in the compromise proposal being considered by trade ministers would devastate the beef industry and cost 100,000 jobs.
IFA president Padraig Walshe called on the Tánaiste to tell EU trade negotiator Peter Mandelson that the agriculture deal is unacceptable to Ireland.
Speaking before he left for Geneva, Mr Walshe said the Tanaiste was “giving more and more concessions” on agriculture to facilitate Mr Mandelson’s “agenda”. He said Europe was now offering Brazil some 1.8 million tonnes of beef imports, which he said will “wipe out the Irish livestock industry”.
It was similar WTO concessions that had closed down sugar beet growing in Ireland, Mr Walshe said.
He said the Tanaiste must put down “a clear marker” or the beef industry and the livelihoods of 50,000 farmers would go the same way as the sugar industry. Potential opportunities for Ireland in the services sector were “vague and elusive”, he added.
Ms Coughlan told The Irish Timesshe had expressed reservations to Mr Mandelson about the proposals because they were bad for EU agriculture and did not offer enough access to developing market economies for goods and services.
“We told him we didn’t see it as being balanced. We want it to be more ambitious on services, we thought it should be more ambitious on industrial market access, and we still have a problem with beef,” said Ms Coughlan, who added that she was still trying to improve the deal for beef farmers by restricting access for high quality foreign imports.
But she denied that the Government was pandering too much to the IFA in the WTO negotiations and neglecting the interests of the wider economy, which would benefit considerably from a WTO deal. “I am here to ensure there is a balanced deal for the betterment of Ireland inc. and that is what I have to do. When we see an overall deal then we can make a final decision with the government,” said Ms Coughlan.
Under the current proposal, which was tabled by WTO chief Pascal Lamy on Friday and accepted as a basis for talks by the world’s seven largest economies, tariffs on beef imports would fall by 23 per cent and some 290,000 tonnes of beef would be allowed into the union at lower tariff rates. But the Government wants a portion of this extra 290,000 tonnes quota to be restricted to low grade manufacturing beef imports rather than quality frozen beef that could compete with Irish beef in its main export markets within the EU.
Ireland has sided with several other EU states, including the current holder of the EU’s rotating presidency, France which have expressed reservations about the compromise.
But all EU states have agreed to allow Mr Mandelson to continue the talks, which still face major hurdles with developing countries such as India uncertain whether to support a deal that could provide the outline for a final WTO agreement after seven years of talks.
“This could still fall on its face as the Indians may not be happy,” said Ms Coughlan, who revealed that she had thought the WTO talks were going to break down on Thursday night after four days of talks that yielded no compromises.