asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries if he will make arrangements to grant the full slaughter premium on all Irish cattle exported to continental EEC countries for immediate slaughter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Slaughter Premium.
38.
No. Over the next three months the rate of premium on eligible cattle exported to continental member States will increase steadily from £10.78 per head to £26.40 per head.
No. doubt the Minister is aware of the glut existing in the factories; they cannot take in the number of cattle being offered to them. Would the Minister say, if the full premium were being paid for these cattle mentioned in the question, that would ease somewhat the pressure on the factories at present?
I have serious doubt about that, because I do not think that is the restriction. On 6th November the Community average price was £26.92, and in Ireland it was £11.36. Therefore, there is a very substantial margin there. Even if you make allowance for the £4 per cwt. for the accession compensatory amount and, say, £2.50 for transport, there is still a substantial margin between the market price here and the market price on the Continent.
The Minister quoted a figure of £11.36 for cattle in November. I am sure he is aware that the cattle that would be exported, that would be more or less the finished article, at that period were making from £14 to £16 per cwt. and in some extreme cases a little bit over it. The margin he has mentioned of £20 is quite small and if he had given the full slaughter premium——
This is a long question.
——there would have been cattle exports.
Is the Deputy giving information or seeking it?
Surely the Deputy will accept that the average price for the type of beast he is referring to would be very much higher here than the average price on the Continent, so that the gap would remain.
No, I would not agree with the Minister
We cannot have argument in the matter.
Is the Minister aware that he is only giving what he is getting from Brussels, that the Government are not contributing anything, and that if they did it would have meant more exports to the Continent and would have taken a certain amount of pressure off the factories?
Is the Minister aware that our exports to the Continent this year are very considerably down on previous years? At the time I put down this question there was only a total of 17,000 head of cattle in 1974 as against 63,000 the year before, and 100,000 the year before that. Therefore, something is seriously inhibiting our export of fat cattle to the Continent. If the Minister has agreed to pay the amount of the FEOGA money as a subsidy for the export of fat cattle to the Continent, does he not thereby recognise that that subsidy is worthwhile; and if half the subsidy is worthwhile would the full subsidy not be twice as much worthwhile? Is the reason why he is not paying the full subsidy on these cattle that he does not want to incur the expenditure?
That is very much over-simplified, and if the Deputy looks more seriously at the subject matter of his question he will see that it contains a serious danger for this country. That is all I want to say to him publicly. Apart from that——
What will the Minister say to him privately?
——the Deputy said there was something seriously inhibiting the export of cattle to the Continent. Of course there is—an over-supplied market that did not exist last year. There was an under-supplied market there last year when the exports were taking place, and it is the same all over the world.
If there is a question of over-supply and the Minister recognises that a subsidy is of some benefit in that situation by granting the amount of the FEOGA subsidy, is that not a tacit admission that a full subsidy would be much more valuable, and why then would he not grant the full subsidy?
If ten times the subsidy were provided it would, of course, be ten times as valuable. That is logical. However, it is not in the interests of this country to discuss this matter publicly.
Is the Minister, therefore, admitting that he is refusing to grant the full subsidy on these exports because the Minister for Finance or somebody else will not allow him to do so, and he is thereby permitting our valuable cattle trade to the Continent to be seriously damaged?
The answer is no.
Question No. 39.
Arising further——
I have called the next question.