Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 7 Jul 1982

Vol. 337 No. 6

Private Members' Business. - Córas Beostoic agus Feola Levy: Motion.

Minister for Agriculture (Mr. Lenihan)

I move:

That Dáil Éireann approves the following Order in draft:—

Córas Beostoic agus Feola Act, 1979 (Levy on Slaughtered or Exported Livestock) Order, 1982

a copy of which was laid in draft before the Dáil on the 14th day of June, 1982.

It is proposed in this order to increase the levy payable to CBF in respect of cattle and sheep slaughtered within the state or exported live. The present rates, at 50p per head for cattle and 5p per head for sheep, have remained unchanged since October 1979. The new rates proposed are 70p per head for cattle and 7p per head for sheep. Section 28 of the Córas Beostoic agus Feola Act, 1979, requires that the draft of such orders must be approved by resolution of each House of the Oireachtas.

Córas Beostoic agus Feola are a statutory body who replaced Córas Beostoic agus Feola Teoranta, a company limited by guarantee, in 1979. Its purposes are, broadly, to promote the export of beef, mutton and lamb and of cattle and sheep and to furnish promotion and marketing support to exporters and the promotion of beef, mutton and lamb on the home market. The body's activities in the past year included intensive promotion of vacuum-packed beef, particularly in Germany, together with the market intelligence work which they developed in previous years.

CBF have two sources of income, namely an Exchequer grant-in-aid from the Vote for Agriculture and the proceeds of a levy on cattle and sheep slaughtered within the state or exported live. In considering the Estimates for 1982 the previous Government provided an increased grant-in-aid of £765,000 for CBF on condition that an additional £300,000 was raised in levy income in 1982. To meet this condition the board of CBF have agreed that the levy rates should be increased to 70p for cattle and 7p for sheep. The new rates of levy are expected to yield a total income of £1 million in 1982 which, together with the Exchequer grant-in-aid of £765,000, is considered to be the minimum amount necessary to enable CBF to meet their planned work programme for the current year.

I propose to bring the new rates into effect on 26 July 1982.

Mr. Dukes

I am glad to see this order coming before the House. The procedure we are following tonight is in many ways a culmination of a very long and difficult discussion over some months which had to do with the best means of going about providing for a continuation and possible improvement in the promotion of exports of our livestock and meat. The Minister pointed out that the previous Government in their Estimates for 1982 have provided an increased grant-in-aid of £765,000 for CBF on condition that an additional £300,000 was raised from the CBF levy during this year. This agreement is a good example of the kind of constructive co-operation we can bring about between the industry and the Government even in difficult financial circumstances—on both sides, let me add—in order to achieve the objective we all want to achieve.

As the Minister has pointed out and as many Members of the House are aware, CBF have achieved a considerable amount of success in promotion over a number of areas. They have substantial ambitions for the promotion of our livestock and meat products. They have helped in a very real way to achieve breakthroughs in markets, and particularly in export markets. The House should be aware that CBF have been involved in a number of promotion ventures which have led to Irish exporters of meat and meat products securing very valuable markets in other countries for our products.

The order which the Minister laid before us tonight is designed to facilitate these activities and they are being contributed to both by the Government by way of grant-in-aid and the industry by way of the levy collected on slaughterings of cattle and sheep. It is only fair to put on record the fact that, in agreeing to an increase of this amount in the levy, that is, an increase of 20p per head in respect of cattle and 2p per head in respect of sheep, the industry — and by that I mean the farmers, the meat factories and all the people involved in the trade — are doing something which is difficult enough for them to do in today's straitened circumstances. I am sure the Minister appreciates that.

To some extent they have made an act of faith in the ability of CBF to get results in terms of the effectiveness of their promotional work. They have also made a very real contribution in difficult economic circumstances to bringing about the success of that promotional work. They are saying: "We are prepared to dig into our own pockets to make our contribution to the national effort to improve and develop promotional work". The new rates of levy are expected to yield a total income of £1 million this year. That, together with the grant-in-aid made available from Exchequer funds, will bring the budget of CBF on these two counts to over £1,750 million.

I hope — and I am sure the Minister will agree with me — that we can find a very useful application for considerably more money than that, that we can find a useful application for a sum of more than £765,000 from the Exchequer and more than £1 million from the industry. When we were drawing up the Estimate and the agreement which led to this order being brought forward, we were in fairly straitened circumstances on both sides of the table. The result we have before us now represents the best agreement which the collective wisdom of the Minister of the day, the present Minister and the industry could achieve. It represents a very substantial contribution from the industry towards development. We should record our appreciation to the industry for going about their business in this very constructive way. For those reasons I welcome the order.

Minister for Agriculture (Mr. Lenihan)

I agree with Deputy Dukes that we should emphasise the contribution from the industry as being a special act of faith on their part in the future of the industry. A mutual input from the State and the industry, together with the closest possible consultation, is likely to provide the best results in the future. We are emphasising the necessity to have a differential in favour of export refunds on processed and added-value agricultural products, and in particular meat products as against livestock export refunds. This is an area in which there has been co-operation.

The commission recognised the importance of extending export refunds into the processed and added-value area to a far greater extent than heretofore, and recognise the fact that the agri-business and industry are important features of the whole agricultural scene. The financing of CBF which is geared to the whole area of market advisory work and development on the processed side of the industry — I agree that the live side of the industry is part of its mandate too — and in particular the more sophisticated added value side in all the meat areas, but particularly in beef, will be a growing factor in the future. We must pay particular attention to it because we have very serious under-utilisation of the meat factory capacity available to us. Any way in which the industry can become involved in the financing of CBF, as they are in this proposed order, is welcome. The involvement of the industry in CBF to this extent is welcome. The processed side has to stressed, although I appreciate that we must also have the live side in regard to sheep and cattle as a safety valve. We must have the emphasis on the processed side without overdoing it, and greater involvement by that side of the industry in the financing of CBF as the export promotion agency, where a voice can be raised and heard and listened to by reason of a direct financing involvement. That is important.

I welcome the approach adopted by Deputy Dukes to this matter and I appreciate the work he has done in this respect.

Question put and agreed to.