Vol. 358 No. 1
asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will comment on the virtually collapsed Irish meat sales to Canada; if he will state the action he has taken in the matter; if he will make a general statement in view of the reduction from £36 million to under £5 million market for Irish orders; and the future prospects of this profitable market.
24.
asked the Minister for Agriculture whether he can contact the Canadian Government directly without reference to GATT to resolve the problem that has arisen in this country since Canada imposed the meat import restrictions and reduced the European quota to 2,500 tons of APS meat for 1985; and if he can request that all pipeline contracts be immediately honoured as the money tied up in this APS meat could have serious implications for the viability of two of our major meat factories.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 23 and 24 together.
I am most concerned at the unilateral decision by the Canadian Government to limit beef imports from the EC and I have had the matter pursued actively with the EC Commission. In such cases the Commission negotiates for the Community in close consultation with the member states whose exports have been affected. In the present instance these are Ireland and Denmark. I also raised the matter at the Council of Agriculture Ministers and I left the Commission in no doubt as to the importance of this trade to us and as to the need for an urgent and equitable solution.
Negotiations between the Commission and the Canadian authorities about the whole question of beef exports to Canada, including existing contracts, are in progress. No settlement has yet emerged and I would prefer not to comment further while negotiations are in progress.
Did the Minister ask the Taoiseach on the occasion of his visit to Canada and his meeting with the Prime Minister to raise this important matter?
The Taoiseach has been fully briefed and has taken a personal interest in the matter.
(Limerick West): With regard to the APS which was introduced some time ago by the EC, has this been of any significance to the Irish beef industry?
It has. The results speak for themselves. The increase was not as sustained as I hoped but admittedly it put on as much as 5p a pound. While there was a depressed period a couple of weeks ago the situation has again improved considerably. It is very much due to the amount of meat taken in under the APS scheme.
