The Santer proposals will be published next month and there will be an opportunity during the year — it is anticipated the negotiations will continue until the end of the year — to examine the proposals to ensure there is no loss of EU support or loss of income for farmers and that there is an equitable distribution of EU support without losing any of the overall support.
In relation to beef, Ireland receives 12 per cent of the total beef premia while producing only 7 per cent of beef. It could be argued that we have done relatively well in that regard. On the question of whether this support has been equitably distributed, winter finishers argue that they were left out of the loop. We will have an opportunity in the forthcoming negotiations to redress any perceived inequities. I have already set up a consultative group in relation to beef and all the farming organisations, particularly those concerned with winter finishers, are represented on it with the IFA, the ICMSA and Macra na Feirme. We must get the best possible outcome of the detailed negotiations. Price reductions of 30 per cent are considerable by any standards and already in 1997 direct payments on average accounted for 47 per cent of farmers' incomes, so they are becoming critically important.
In relation to the proposals, documents were leaked over the past few weeks which I understand are fairly close to what the published document will be. In the leaked documents the suggestion is that, in addition to the direct payments, there will be a national envelope of support and it will be up to the member state to divide that out in a more equitable manner. As a member state we will have a better chance in that regard but the person dividing it will find it difficult to please everybody.