There has been another significant and welcome development in south west Cork where a local co-operative AI station has become involved in the provision of a service for the collection and delivery of reactor animals. This service has proved very successful to date. I would like to see the pilot scheme principle extended to other areas and I would welcome co-operatives becoming involved on a larger scale in the provision of a service for the collection and delivery of reactor animals. Should this happen, I have no doubt that it will contribute enormously to the disease eradication programme. This getting together for the elimination of disease has proved very significant in the two instances I have mentioned. A large part of the problems of disease has been a certain amount of carelessness through animals being carted around in filthy trucks. Farmers are now interested in co-operating to get rid of this terrible disease which is costing the taxpayers a lot of money and is of great concern to the State. We are not making the inroads we should into this disease but I hope that will change.
Spectacular progress continues to be made in the eradication of brucellosis with animal incidence now down to 0.10 per cent compared with 0.39 per cent at the end of the 1981-82 round of testing. With this rate of progress there is now a realistic expectation that this disease can be eliminated in the next five years.
As Deputies will be aware, cutbacks in ACOT's services, unfortunately but inevitably, had to be made this year in line with the measures required generally by the Government to put the State's finances in order. In fact, the phasing out of ACOT's advisory services in amenity horticulture, poultry and farm home management was decided by the previous Government in the context of the 1983 Estimates and endorsed by the present Government. The basis of the decision was that these are low priority services having regard to the difficult budgetary situation.
I am happy to say, however, that it has been found possible to modify the original decision, which will, I believe, enable ACOT to provide an effective training and advisory service to commercial poultry and horticultural producers as well as to farm families on a range of agricultural issues. The outcome is that the impact of the decision both in relation to the services provided and the number of posts to be phased out — 57 now as against 140 initially — is considerable less severe than that which would have resulted from the original decision of the previous Government. Already ACOT, appreciating that the service is now limited, have decided to see how best this limited service could be utilised fully. Much more use will be made of the centres in getting people and housewives in to meet the instructresses and the farm home advisers and to carry out various courses in farm home management and poultry matters as is the case in quite a number of areas at the moment.
ACOT's grant-in-aid for general purposes also reflects the decision taken to phase out aid to the rural home economics colleges. I am pleased to say, however, that arrangements have now been made for ACOT to continue to fund the colleges on a basis which will enable them to operate for a further school year ending in June 1984. Possible future uses for the colleges after that are currently being discussed by the managements with ACOT, but I must stress that there can be no commitment as to State funding for such new courses as may be proposed. Nevertheless, I am hopeful that a satisfactory solution will be arrived at.
I am deeply interested in the horticultural industry and I share the widespread concern about the increasing level of imports of fruit and vegetables which we could produce ourselves. To meet this competition I am convinced that better organisation and co-operation among growers is essential. In this regard I welcome the steps being taken by the IFA to organise growers at local and regional levels so as to plan and co-ordinate production and marketing. This initiative can be expanded by developing viable producer groups and aid is available from the Department towards setting up such groups. In addition, horticultural products figure prominently in the work of the inter-departmental committee who are currently monitoring imports. The Department's horticulture development group have recently been reappointed for a further three-year term and will continue their examination of the problems besetting the industry.
Regarding the IFA's proposed potato marketing authority, we had meetings with the IFA as recently as yesterday, and Members opposite will be glad to know that we are going fairly quickly down the road of agreement with regard to this potato marketing body which will be based on co-operative lines and eventually will be self-financing. It will have a register of growers and will also be insisting on such things as identification of growers. Each grower will have his name and number on his bag of potatoes. There is general acceptance now that the only sensible method, the only sound way to deal with imports is to take on importers at their own game. We believe that with a co-ordinated approach and under a sort of central discipline — which discipline did not come from the Ministry or the Department, it is being demanded by the growers themselves — this enterprise will be successful. We all know farmers. If you try to impose something on them they will resist it, but if they come up with something themselves then it is a totally different ball game. All we are doing at this stage is offering them all the help and technical advice in the Department, who are working very closely with the ICOS in formulating the co-operative. On the assumption that we would be ready for, possibly, even the main crop, we hope, for the coming year anyway, to have a northern market. They accept that imports are necessary during parts of the year and also that they must compete with imports, but I think they are happy that they have a product which can compete with imports. They are also satisfied that the whole industry lacks this sort of discipline and that in future the supermarket owner can be assured when he is buying an Irish product under the new brand name, Golden Wonders or whatever they decide to call it, this brand will be a guarantee of quality. The consumer at the moment is aware that she is doing a certain amount of harm to the economy when she buys something that is imported. We have been reassured by the supermarkets that if we can present the housewife with a good Irish product she will go for the Irish product. There is an awareness of the damage that imports are doing to the economy and there is no EEC law which says that you may not buy Irish products if the Irish products are there. We hope that these Irish products will be there, they will be in net bags and they will be almost identical with what is coming in from abroad. Let us hope they will be successful.
Regarding horticulture generally, at one stage we had thought to tie in all horticultural products into this type of co-operative, but because so much work was done on the potato scene the IFA thought that it would be better to go ahead with one product and that we could follow on with a further co-operative which would deal with the glasshouse industry and other horticultural products. As Members probably saw in the farming papers, a horticultural committee has been formed, which does not include potatoes but which includes the glasshouse industry, and they are proceeding along the same lines. The important thing about this is that we are getting good co-operation from the merchants. There is no point in talking to the farmers in isolation, to the supermarkets in isolation or to the merchants in isolation. In the last few days we have met the fruit importers and merchants and they too are proving to be very helpful. They say that once they get a proper product, continuity of supply and good quality, they certainly will only be too pleased to purchase this product.
There is an anomaly with regard to the way they deal with the Irish customer vis-à-vis the Dutch and that is something we will have to look at. In fact, when tomatoes, or any horticultural products, come from Holland they must be paid for in cash. They deal with the Irish customer differently; it is on a commission basis. Obviously, if one has to pay for tomatoes from Holland one will endeavour to sell them. That is a natural reaction. One then pursues the Commission after that. There is a hurdle to overcome but I believe we can succeed.
With the co-operation we are getting, it should be possible to continue on the same lines with horticultural produce as with potatoes. It cannot be over-emphasised that we are doing ourselves a lot of harm by importing so much produce. Minister of State Connaughton's proposal with regard to land leasing can help. It may be possible for a group of farmers to lease small quantities of land over a long period for the construction of plastic tunnels to grow horticultural produce. It may be possible for them to organise a certralised heating system and secretariat. Land leasing would be a great help to young people who do not have land but have been trained in horticulture. The markets exist and we have the ability to grow the produce. Technology has advanced substantially over the years with the result that perishable goods can be held under controlled conditions for a long period.
An extension of the potato co-operative movement would be desirable in this area. Producer groups could be established in areas like Monaghan, Wexford or Cork. I accept that some large growers are in a position to provide their own facilities for the brushing and grading of potatoes but many producers are not. Producer groups, under the aegis of co-operatives, could carry out such work at different venues. I hope a scheme on those lines will be adopted fairly soon. I agree with the Member who suggested that we should avail of EEC funding. I accept that there were restrictions and we were not able to avail of such funds but in this area FEOGA grants are quite flaithiuil. We should avail of that aid. I will keep the Opposition fully informed on a day-to-day basis of the progress in regard to potato and horticultural co-operatives. I may be seeking their support at the all-party committees that may be established.
The glasshouse sector, notably tomato production, has been affected more than most by increases in production costs, particularly the cost of fuel. The possibilities of making natural gas, which could provide a cheaper source of energy available to this sector are being examined. In addition, financial assistance has been made available towards the employment of a market co-ordinator for glasshouse crops. I would strongly urge growers to support fully this initiative which I see as a valuable means of improving the marketing of the tomato crop. That is all the more important when one considers that although we are almost into the month of July we are not able to supply our market with tomatoes. That is a serious situation. Admittedly they are attracting a very good price now but that is another reason why the market place should be supplied by home producers. I hope the natural gas proposals go ahead because they would assist the growers in north County Dublin. The above measures are an indication of the Government's concern and their interest in assisting the various sectors of the horticultural industry to expand production and secure a greater share of the market.
I should like to give the House some good news. One of my happiest achievements has been in the milk recording area. For a number of years we have been trying to standardise milking recording, something that is vital to our dairy herds and the future of our dairy industry. We have launched an Irish dairies co-op with central offices and computer services in Bandon. That has been well received. Records of any pedigree stock are now available on computer and can be obtained with the minimum of difficulty. Another important advancement, because of our ties with the UK, is that we have access to the UK computers. It is now possible to track down the records of dairy herds on both islands and that is important.
It would be remiss of me if I did not pay a special tribute to CBF who have done tremendous work in the promotion of our meat industry. In my dealings with them, from the general mnanager to the staff, I found them to be very efficient. Their performance in Frankfurt was superb. I had the pleasure of being with them at their stand and the vacuumpacked meat on display there was a credit to the country and CBF. It was not surprising that they got substantial orders for their produce. Nobody should begrudge the comparatively small funding to CBF and Deputies on all sides would be well advised to familiarise themselves with what the board are doing on behalf of the Irish meat industry. Their contribution is substantial and as a result our meat industry is making a lot of money.
Our cattle trade generally was dealt with by the Minister and the Minister of State. There is a great future for beef production here and the only problem I see is that the margin of profit is getting smaller. Our best markets are the British supermarkets and the German butchers but there is a substantial amount of unemployment in those countries and people cannot afford to pay the very high prices. The result is that we must keep our margin of profit down. That is all the more reason why we should continue to emphasise the importance of good quality breeding particularly in view of the fact that bull licensing is to disappear. There may be a tendency when that happens to use bulls of inferior quality in spite of the fact that we have a subsidised AI scheme. I hope farmers do not fall into that trap.
