asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food whether concessions on cereal substitutes could be secured during the GATT talks.
Written Answers. - Concessions on Cereal Substitutes.
36.
I assume that the Deputy is referring to the possibility of securing restrictions on the import of cereal substitutes into the Community during the current GATT talks. As negotiations are still taking place on the direction and approach to be adopted in the talks during the next few years, it is premature to speculate on concessions on any specific issues at this point.
In its negotiating approach, the Community has included a proposal for a readjustment of external protection under which it proposes to deal with distortions caused, inter alia, by imports of cereals substitutes. This will be pursued in the course of the negotiations. I would, however, remind the Deputy that present arrangements for the import of substitutes were agreed in earlier multilateral/bilateral negotiations and in all probability, therefore, any restrictions that might be secured during the current round of negotiations would have to be compensated for elsewhere.