asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries if he has taken any steps to protect the pig industry in this country; and if he will indicate the prospects for the small producer.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Pig Industry.
34.
The pig industry is now subject to the EEC common organisation of the market for pigmeat, which provides protective mechanisms in the form of levies on imports from third countries and intervention buying in depressed market conditions. It has also resulted in the abolition of subsidies which had adversely affected us on the export market and that market has now strengthened very considerably. Since our accession to EEC, pig prices here have been higher than ever before. Feed prices, of course, increased also this year due to circumstances outside our control but this does not involve any long-term damage to the industry.
I see good prospects for pig producers who have reasonably-sized units, who operate on efficient lines and who are prepared to accept that in the competitive but protected EEC market there are bound to be fluctuations in pig prices and periods of higher and lower profitability.
I note that the Minister is confident enough about the future of people with large units or large combines, but I am particularly concerned with the smaller type of producers with whom the Minister may not be so well acquainted but who have besieged me for some time asking is there any future for them. Does he really feel that the small producer can keep pigs any longer? I know he mentioned feeding prices.
I think it depends on how small "small" really is.
I believe that much of the needs of the factories were supplied by people who fattened up to ten pigs. That may not sound big to the Minister but to the people concerned it was a great source of income.
The Deputy is embarking upon a debate.
Should they keep pigs now or should they get out?
What I am trying to say to the Deputy is that the smaller the man is the more difficult it will be for him to get a profit. There is very little I can do to influence profitability or otherwise except to advise people to get into pigs in a bigger way so that they can bulk buy and get all the advantages of larger scale production.
I wonder would the Minister have anything to say about a statement which appeared in the papers very recently from the president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association to the effect that there was no liaison between the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries and the Minister for Industry and Commerce with regard to increases in the price of feeding stuffs.
That is a separate question altogether.
It has to do with pig producing and forecasting what the future of the pig industry will be.
It is a separate question.
I have not seen the report but, of course, it is absolutely incorrect.
I can understand, as I have already said, that the Minister might not have seen it but I can assure him he is wrong when he says it is incorrect.
Question No. 35.
The report is a fact and I would recommend to the Minister that he should make himself familiar with it.
This is Question Time, Deputy Collins.
What I am saying is incorrect is the statement that there is no contact between the Minister for Industry and Commerce and the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries.
If there is, the Minister is not bringing his influence to bear with regard to increases in prices.
35.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries if he is aware that a factory in France (details supplied) is prepared to import Irish pork at £34 per hundredweight, delivered; and if his Department and the Pig Marketing Board have made any contact with this factory for the purpose of selling Irish pork.
36.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries if, in view of the fact that the live-weight price of pigs in France is averaging £34 per hundredweight which is £10 per hundredweight higher than prevailing prices in Ireland, he will ensure that Irish farmers can get a comparable price for their pigs.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 35 and 36 together.
I understand that the Pigs and Bacon Commission have already made an offer of Irish pork to the French factory mentioned but that so far no reply has been received. The EEC common organisation of the market for pigmeat provides the opportunity for comparable prices here and in France, subject to the charging during the transition period of any accession compensatory amounts in respect of differences in feed grain prices and also to the monetary compensatory amounts being charged so as to offset the effects of currency fluctuation.
The latest data available from the EEC Commission shows that the average market price for a standard quality of pigmeat in France was £28.00 per cwt deadweight. Our price with the addition of an accession compensatory amount of £0.37 and a monetary compensatory amount of £3.18 was £28.04 per cwt deadweight.
Is the Minister aware that a group of Irish farmers were in Brittany recently and they saw for themselves that the price of pigs was £34 a ton? The owner of that factory actually offered to buy Irish pigs at £34 delivered.
I am well aware of what the Deputy says. This factory were offered Irish pigs but they made no reply. There is free play in the market. I am also aware that there are fluctuations in the French market the same as there are fluctuations in the Irish market. It can so happen that if you add the accession compensatory amounts and the monetary compensatory amounts the price here in certain weeks is higher than the price in France.