(Limerick West) and Mr. N. Treacy asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will implement the Euro-currency facility of credit for Irish farmers as a matter of urgency.
Ceisteanna-Questions. Oral Answers. - Euro-Currency Credit Facility.
16.
Mr. Noonan
An existing facility of £100 million under the Exchange Rate Guarantee Scheme remains in operation until 1985. Funds from this facility are available for relending to farmers according as earlier loans are partially or totally repaid. Consideration of the introduction of any new facility must have regard to experience in connection with the present scheme and to the potential liability for the Exchequer. As I indicated in the Dáil on 26 January last it is estimated that the present scheme will cost the Exchequer between £20 million and £25 million in return for which farmers will have obtained variable and uncertain interest rate benefits.
Would the Minister agree that in the past few years a major contribution has been made in this area and could he tell us the amount of the drop in farmer borrowing from the ACC?
That is a completely separate question.
It is entirely relevant to the question.
Does the Minister agree that a central recommendation of the committee referred to earlier is that such a credit facility should be made available for the retention and expansion of existing stock so as to enlarge the cattle population? Does he agree this is the central problem facing Irish agriculture and that some concrete scheme should be introduced to do this?
If I could provide that money——
It is up to the Minister to get it.
——I would be only too glad to do it. Such a loan, repayable over a five-year period, would cost between £20 million and £25 million, and realignment of it would cost an additional £4.5 million. In the context of the interim recommendations of the working party, no preparation was made by the Deputy——
Only £100 million.