asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries whether there is any prospect of obtaining a higher quota for butter and cheese on the British market; and, if not, why.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Butter and Cheese Quotas.
7.
As indicated in reply to a question on 8th April, our butter quota for the British market for 1970-71 shows an increase of 4,000 tons compared with 1969-70. The quantity of cheese to be supplied by Ireland in 1970-71 will be the same as the annual rate for the past two years, whereas the quantities to be supplied by the other major suppliers show a reduction. Every effort will continue to be made to secure improved allocations for both products.
Surely the Minister will agree that the Anglo-Irish Free Trade Area Agreement has worked out very badly for us, so far as butter and cheese are concerned? If the terms had been adhered to by the British we should now be enjoying a far higher quota for butter and cheese on the British market.
Far be it from me to make a case against myself, so far as any negotiations with the British in the future are concerned, but if the Deputy takes a look at what we were sending in by way of quota—and there was a butter quota before there ever was a Free Trade Area Agreement—he will find that at the figure of 30,000 this year we have come on by about 150 per cent and this against a world market situation of glut conditions, depressed prices and all the rest of it. So far as cheese is concerned, I think he will also agree that our build-up in cheese sales in Britain and elsewhere has been very good indeed and that, no doubt, if it were not for the Free Trade Area Agreement we would not be getting in this ment we would not have got in this year, last year or the year before because of over-supply difficulties on their market, anything like the 17½ thousand tons of hard cheese that we are allowed to get in nor, in fact, would we be enjoying, as we enjoy now, complete freedom in so far as processed and other cheeses are concerned on the British market. The House should be well aware that there is no restriction whatever on the other cheeses—none whatever.
Did we not voluntarily agree last year to restrict cheese exports?
That is right, but at a figure higher than any of the other suppliers, comparatively speaking, and again this year at a figure higher than any other major supplier from any part of the world and this all in the interests of trying to pull down in the British stores, as of now, an over-supply of cheese which, if released totally on to the market, would collapse the price, with disastrous results not only to Ireland but to all the other suppliers as well. We have been indulging in self-protection rather than self-restriction.
What are the likely prospects of our being able to get a higher quota in the foreseeable future?
I should imagine that if the existing supply in store position improves and with an increasing demand for cheese, a growing consumption in Great Britain, we can look forward to getting a share of that increase year by year. That is what I would expect from them under the Free Trade Area Agreement.
8.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries the percentage of the total British market for (a) butter and (b) cheese held by this country in each year from 1965 to 1969, inclusive.
The reply is in the form of a tabular statement which with your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to have circulated in the Official Report.
Following is the information:—
Irish Exports of Butter and Cheese to the United Kingdom.
I. As percentage of total United Kingdom supplies (i.e., United Kingdom home production plus imports).
|
Butter |
Cheese |
|
|
1965 |
3.9 |
3.4 |
|
1966 |
4.7 |
5.0 |
|
1967 |
5.5 |
5.8 |
|
1968 |
5.6 |
6.7 |
|
1969 |
5.1 |
6.4 |
II. As percentage of total imports into United Kingdom.
|
Butter |
Cheese |
|
|
1965 |
4.2 |
6.0 |
|
1966 |
5.0 |
8.6 |
|
1967 |
6.0 |
10.2 |
|
1968 |
6.3 |
11.3 |
|
1969 |
5.8 |
11.3 |
NOTE: The percentages for a particular calendar year are liable to be affected by the actual arrangements made by An Bord Bainne for exporting the butter quota or the agreed quantity of cheese, which relate to years ended 31st March.