asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries if there will be redundancies in the cheese factories this year due to the fact that it will be more profitable to manufacture skim milk powder and butter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Cheese Factory Redundancies.
1.
Under the EEC system the manufacture of cheese for sale at market prices is normally more remunerative than the manufacture of butter and skim milk powder for sale at intervention prices. This position may be upset temporarily by market conditions, and at the present time export market conditions are giving rise to some difficulties for the cheese industry. I am satisfied, however, that the long-term outlook for the industry and for employment in it is sound.
With a view to mitigating the difficulties that may arise from time to time for particular dairy products due to changing market conditions, I have already suggested to the manufacturers concerned that they should consider establishing among themselves a pooling arrangement which would enable the stronger products at any one time to assist those which may be encountering temporary difficulty.
There is no question but that one of these factories will close.
There is no good reason why any of these manufacturing industries should close because of the change in prices. This is obviously a temporary difficulty because of the stocking up of cheese in Britain. Only two days ago I spoke to the British Minister and asked him what way these stocks were going at the moment, and he said that they were being reduced substantially, and he does not see this difficulty lasting over a long period.
Is the Minister aware that there is a problem here, especially in the smaller factories, arising out of the intervention price. Apart from the general operation of the intervention price, surely there is a case to be made for the smaller cheese factories, especially in the underdeveloped areas where there is a problem that cannot be solved by any suggestion that the Minister has made to the dairies and those engaged in other milk products? Should he not make a case for assistance under the regional policy in the case of factories which engage purely in cheese manufacturing?
As far as I understand the position, there is no case I can make for an individual industry in the situation referred to by Deputy Cunningham. This is regarded as a very temporary difficulty which should be overcome in quite a short time.
Is this not an important matter, that a factory may close, and over and above the problem of factory closure, is there not the other one that milk suppliers to the factory have no other outlets and that there will be an enticement and encouragement to switch from milk? If the suppliers switch from milk where do the cheese factories stand if there is a temporary, six months or 12 months, bad price problem? Should the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries not come to the rescue where it is clear that a factory which will go out of operation for six months cannot come back again?
It might help the Deputy if I told him—perhaps he knows already—that I am meeting the interests concerned in this industry this afternoon.
Deputy John Callanan for a last question on this subject.
I would like the Minister to elaborate on what he means by "pooling".
I asked the question, and I would like to say that régionalisation is only bluff. The idea of régionalisation is that you close one factory and open two more.
We must have a supplementary question on this matter.
The question is very simple. How many will be redundant as a result of that development? The problem is far more involved, and the Minister knows it well.
Deputy Callanan asked me what did I mean by pooling. I suggested a voluntary pooling arrangement whereby the strong products would come to the aid of the weaker products that were suffering temporary difficulty. This could change from one product to another at any particular time, and if this pooling arrangement was agreed among the creameries generally, it would help this sort of difficulty.
Surely the Minister is aware——
I am calling Question No. 2.
——that there are cheese factories who engage in no other activity. This will not benefit them.
Pooling arrangements cannot work anyway.