THE GOVERNMENT was accused of contradicting its own foreign policy by “ramming through” EU trade agreements with Africa without a full Dáil debate.

Labour foreign affairs spokesman Michael D Higgins claimed the agreements represented “the imposition of old, failed policies on African countries that can ill afford them” and he said that only 10 out of 47 African parliaments had debated the agreements.

He objected to three economic partnership agreements with Africa being referred to the Dáil foreign affairs committee for discussion. Mr Higgins told the Dáil that “we insult ourselves and our foreign policy” on aid and world hunger by “ramming through these agreements without discussion”.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen said they had been asked to approve the terms of the interim agreements “as soon as possible”. He said that all other EU member states had signed them and the EU was anxious to implement them “to ensure compliance with World Trade Organisation rulings”.

But Mr Higgins said the agreements “go much beyond the WTO requirements”.

The Taoiseach said he would undertake to have the agreements discussed in the Dáil after they had been considered by the committee, but Mr Higgins said that would be “entirely too late”.

The Labour TD said “this process was used previously when agreements were referred to a select committee. I will attend the select committee with a couple of others, we will debate them inadequately and they will then be rammed through. They affect the right of Africans, for example, to put taxes on extractive industries that are robbing their countries. They require more than 80 per cent reduction in relation to tariffs.”