asked the Minister for Agriculture the plans he has for increasing production of fruit and expanding the marketing of fresh fruit and for the further development of the fruit processing industry.
2.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Horticultural Industry.
1.
asked the Minister for Agriculture the plans he has for increasing production of vegetables and expanding the marketing of fresh vegetables and for the further development of the vegetables processing industry.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 and 2 together.
My Department, An Comhairle Oiliúna Talmhaíochta, An Foras Talúntais and the Industrial Development Authority provide a range of aids and services to promote the production, marketing and processing of fruit and vegetables.
The Horticultural Development Group have examined the sector and have produced several reports with recommendations and guidelines for future development. Some of these have already been adopted and others are under consideration. Financial aids are now available from my Department for setting up producer groups for fruit and vegetables and also for the appointment of market co-ordinators for glasshouse crops. Recently I announced aids for the conversion of glasshouse heating from oil to solid fuel as well as for greater co-ordination and co-operation in the production and marketing of horticultural crops.
These measures provide a framework for progress but development and expansion must depend largely on the initiative and efforts of the horticultural sector itself.
The purpose of the question is to find out from the Minister and the Department if there is any new thinking in the Department in regard to development in this area. I am sorry I missed the early part of the reply.
I do not mind repeating it. My Department, An Chomhairle Oiliúna Talmhaíochta, An Foras Talúntais and the Industrial Development Authority provide a range of aids and services to promote the production, marketing and processing of fruit and vegetables.
The Horticultural Development Group, who were set up by us, have examined the sector and have produced several reports with recommendations and guidelines for future development of the industry. Some of these have already been adopted and others are under consideration. Financial aids are now available from my Department for setting up producer groups for fruit and vegetables and also for market co-ordination for glasshouse crops. Recently I announced aids for the conversion of glasshouse heating from oil to solid fuel as well as for greater co-ordination and co-operation in the production and marketing of horticultural crops.
I am aware that aids have been and are available for the horticultural sector, but I am talking about the expansion of the horticultural sector, particularly with the new and very welcome emphasis on the development of the processing industry. I presume that in that industry food processing means all foods, not just beef etc. Therefore, I assume that there will be new emphasis on the processing of fruit in the horticultural sector. Is there any new thinking regarding expansion to ensure that they will be able to avail of this, which is coming from the IDA interest in food processing?
The acreage under vegetables generally has been on the up and up and we have high degree of selfsufficiency in many products such as carrots, cabbage, lettuce, turnips and main crop tomatoes. Marketing needs to be improved. I have had talks with the IFA groups and others with a view to setting up a sort of national horticultural grouping for which grant aid will be provided, somewhat similar to the national potato co-operative. The idea is that we co-ordinate all the various sides of the industry together and even try to tie in the supermarkets and shops generally, but first try to determine the size of the market and how we will go about supplying as much as we can of it with the sort of products we are capable of growing.
The Deputy mentioned the processing side of it. We had a setback in the seventies with international competition. The big black spot there is frozen french fries as in chips running up to £30 million. We are looking at the possibility of that type of facility coming in here. At the moment the process of assessing the market, not only here but in the UK and France also, is taking place. The trouble about this type of industry is that it must be so big by its nature that the market here would be only a starting point. It would have to be in the process of exporting very substantial quantities of their product. We have very successful mushroom processing in Monaghan and a frozen chips plant in Donegal, expansion at Batchelors and the revitalised takeover of the Erin Foods plant in Midleton which is going quite well. They have created a pretty substantial outlet for Irish crops, and I can say that other processing projects are being explored. Production of strawberries could hardly be called processing, but the Wexford people over the years have co-operated very successfully in strawberry growing with people in the jams business both here and abroad. I suppose it is a form of processing. The produce is put into barrels, SO2 is added and the product can be held indefinitely. About 1,200 acres are under strawberries and with Sunfresh they are doing quite well.
Would the Minister of State agree that, despite what he has said, there is a need for a proper and co-ordinated approach towards the development of vegetable production? Having regard to the fact that the horticultural development group were disbanded recently, is there a certain lack of direction in his Department in this area at present?
This sort of question is obviously for the Estimate.
I do not mind——
I know you do not mind, but I am supposed to try to get Question Time and questions under some sort of control and I am not going to do that by having an extended discussion on policy which is much more appropriate for an Estimate debate. If you want to spend all day discussing a couple of questions to the neglect of the other 100 on the same topic it does not make sense.
(Limerick West): We are entitled to ask supplementaries.
They are not supplementaries, they are discussions about policy being pursued, which is a very wide subject.
Having regard to the considerable speculation there has been in the media for the past while on this subject I have asked the Minister a supplementary question and I appeal to you, Sir, to allow him to answer the supplementary.
We are on agricultural questions now for a week at least and we have still 70 to do and if a crop comes in here over the next weekend we will spend months at them. If that is the way the House wants it——
I think I can resolve the Deputy's problem in one sentence. The horticultural development group sat and produced a report which has been studied by the Department, and we are acting on it. One of the main proposals was the setting up of some sort of co-ordinated approach to the industry. We are now dealing with the industry itself in all its aspects in the hope of setting up a co-ordinated group that will take in all facets of the industry. We are grant-aiding this type of proposal and we hope to have the results in the not too distant future.
What involvement ought the Department have with these groupings? Does the Minister intend that his Department will have any direct involvement or is he simply going to leave it to the industry to organise itself?
Of course, there are no better people than the industry themselves to organise themselves. The industry are well able to organise themselves, but we can bring them together and help to fund them on a once-off basis and help them to get their act together, as is done in every other country.
(Limerick West): Would the Minister consider setting up a statutory board to bring all aspects of the industry together?
No.
(Limerick West): Why?
What I have seen of statutory boards over the years would not encourage me to set up a statutory board. I would much prefer to see them doing as the potato people are doing, that is setting up their own co-operative and getting down to their own business.
Would the Minister agree that the major problem in this area has been the fragmentation of production? If the Minister continues on this course, that fragmentation will continue and the co-ordinated approach towards marketing will not be achieved.
We are trying to do as the Deputy says. We are trying to get a co-ordinated approach, even down to the sowing of crops. One of the first things this group will be doing is appointing a marketing co-ordinator.