asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries the main points of difference between the beef cattle incentive scheme and the proposed EEC measure to encourage beef production.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Beef Production.
133.
During the present year the EEC Commission has been considering a number of suggestions for measures to encourage increased beef production within the Community. No decision has yet been taken on any of these suggestions and there would be no point at this stage in comparing them with this country's beef cattle incentive scheme.
Could the Minister tell me if any of the suggestions contain the recently introduced element which we have in our beef incentive scheme, namely, that the rate of payment starts to fall off above 30 cows?
No, they do not.
Would the Minister see any difficulty in making our scheme and the EEC scheme compatible seeing that we have recently introduced this?
Assuming the Community agree on accepting a common scheme, it is unlikely that the shape of that scheme would be the same as the beef cattle incentive scheme as we know it. There is one proposal that approximates to the old in-calf heifer scheme of some years ago but nothing has been agreed as yet. I should say, of course, that the situation as far as the beef incentive scheme for the coming year is concerned is that that would go ahead because the cows that are in that scheme are already in calf.
When will the EEC scheme be likely to come into operation in Ireland?
It is difficult to say. There was a meeting in Luxembourg of Agricultural Ministers recently and it was discussed at great length, the last of many meetings on this subject between the Ministers of the Six. It was the first, as far as I know, that the three applicant countries were present at as well. I think it would be bound to be covered but there are many differences of interest and emphasis that have yet to be ironed out.