31/07/2007 (Agence Europe) - The leader of the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) Pádraig Walshe has written to European Commission President José Manuel Barroso calling for the head of the Commission's delegation in Dublin, Martin Territ, to be replaced. According to the Irish Times, Irish farmers no longer have any confidence in Mr Territ, whom they accuse of a “partisan and prejudicial position” on the import of Brazilian beef into the EU market. Irish and Scottish producers (IFA and SBCA) recently brought out an alarming report on health issues in Brazilian cattle farms, the meat from which was for the European market. On the basis of the report, the IFA and the SBCA, supported by several MEPs, have called for an immediate and total ban on imports into the EU (see EUROPE 9470). Mr Territ, in publicly refuting the IFA claims about Brazilian beef, “overstepped his authority”, says Mr Walshe in his letter to Mr Barroso. He says that Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fisher Boel had “accepted” the findings of the IFA report. Mr Territ defended himself in the Irish Times, stressing that he had merely given the Commission's position as set out by Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou. (hb)