asked the Minister for Agriculture (a) the amount of food stored in intervention in Ireland; (b) the annual cost of storing the food; (c) the total cost of storage since the intervention scheme began; (d) the proportion of the food which is (i) sold, or (ii) rots; and (e) the total cost of disposal of inedible food since the scheme began.
Written Answers. - Intervention Products.
352.
(a) The stock levels of intervention products held by the Irish Intervention Agency (the Department of Agriculture) at 30 August 1985 are as follows:
|
Product |
Tonnage |
|
Bone in Beef |
37,500 |
|
Boneless Beef |
59,900 |
|
Skimmed Milk Powder |
1,800 |
|
Butter |
97,600 |
|
Barley |
9,100 |
|
Feed Wheat |
300 |
(b) The technical and financial costs involved in the storage of intervention products are reimbursed to member states on the basis of standard amounts fixed by the European Commission. The standard amounts reflect the weighted average costs incurred throughout the Community during a given reference period. The net cost to the Irish Exchequer in respect of storage operations for the last full year, 1984, was £12.247 million.
(c) The total net cost to the Irish Exchequer in respect of the technical and financial costs involved in the storage of intervention products since 1973 to the end of 1984 was £53.946m.
(d) Sales of intervention products since 1973 amount to some 1.3 million tonnes. Only 59 tonnes of intervention products were deemed unfit for human consumption during that period.
(e) The value of the 59 tonnes of intervention products not fit for human consumption was £105,000.