In supporting the Government amendment to the motion now before the House I want to say at the outset how regrettable to me as Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture with responsibility in the area of food and horticulture the closure or discontinuation of any food activity would be. As a Deputy representing the area affected by this decision and including in my constituency both those involved in the factory operation and those who supply products to the factory, I fully appreciate that there are those in the Mallow area who must now be experiencing a deep sense of trauma and anxiety, and I sympathise with them in their present difficulties. As the Minister said last night, it is particularly unfortunate that the closure should occur in an area of Cork which has suffered other closures and job losses. Therefore, in discussing this problem I would like to ensure that as far as possible Deputies and the people of the area, particularly those directly affected by the closure, are made fully aware of the background and circumstances of this decision to close and will be kept up to date on the possible more hopeful developments currently taking place. This is not a time for recrimination but for co-operation and working together for progress.
I would first of all like to assure Deputies of my continuing commitment to vegetable based enterprises in County Cork. Indeed, it is now almost a quarter century since I was involved in the setting up of East Cork Foods at Midleton, an operation in which the Sugar Company also became involved. I gave my support and assistance to the venture and we succeeded in getting together in record time what amounted to a very substantial amount of the capital required to get the ECF under way. Other enterprises have failed and have been forgotten but when the East Cork Foods closure was announced and when I had come into office, the closure having been acceded to by the previous administration. I immediately set about getting a rescue package for the Midleton area and after considerable effort and negotiations with various potentially interested parties we got an alternative operation going. This had not happened with any previous closure, and I can assure Deputy O'Keeffe that Midleton has not gone into oblivion. Although it is early days yet, the operation in Midleton has proved quite successful. We have some 2,000 acres of crops, an efficient factory and, most important of all, a ready market for the produce. We can in fact readily learn from the Midleton experience in our approach to Mallow.
A major problem with Mallow is the scale and type of operation carried out there. Deputies opposite have alleged that the equipment is old and technology out of date. I would suggest that their knowledge is rather out of date. The Mallow plant has some most up to date technology; it is the first food operation to produce no-cook products, but the company have been unable to achieve a satisfactory price volume market combination which would make this type of operation viable.
There are, however, other types of operation which could be viable and I have been looking into the possibilities for some time now.
It is appropriate to point this out to Deputies Noonan, O'Keeffe and Reynolds and any other Deputies opposite who believe that one should wait for the evil day and then cry loudly but do nothing. I have not cried although I have every sympathy for those affected by the closure. In fact it is because of my appreciation of their position that I have been doing something — I have been particularly active in pursuing the possibility of a new arrangement for Mallow. In doing this my first priority has been to ensure that there is a ready market for the product.
It is no good whatever producing something for which there is no market or for which the market available is not such as to allow for a viable operation. One first has to identify the market and then get an operation under way which will meet the requirements of that market. I believe the scene is now set for such an operation, but if it is to be successful it will need the co-operation and support of all those involved.
This is not a time for sniping or making irrelevant but smart debating points. It is a time when there is a need for everyone to work together to get an alternative operation off the ground and to make a success of it. This will require the involvement of all, the relevant State agencies such as IDA and the National Development Corporation, the Sugar Company as current owner of the plant and property, the Mallow workers whose commitment to any new operation will be essential for its success, and the local growers to provide the basic input material. Also required of course, is the involvement of a relevant marketing company. This is the essential element which I am pursuing. Even at this stage I can report I am quite confident that a viable alternative activity can be achieved.
Another point raised by the Opposition relates to the high level of food imports coming into the country. The Minister has already commented adequately on this and pointed out that in a free trade situation it is the consumer in this country who determines the amount and type of product imported. In the case of what are statistically classified as food imports it is quite clear that a very large proportion of this £800 million consists of animal feeding stuffs and that the customer for this product is the very person who is responsible for the agricultural product on which our huge food export business is based.
One of the principal reasons why such levels of feeding stuff imports take place is a direct reflection of the very high degree to which our agricultural industry is based on the output of livestock and livestock products generally especially cattle, beef, milk and dairy products.
I will reply briefly to some of the points made by Deputies. I wish to congratulate them on their dignified, constructive approach to this matter. The Horticultural Development Group were referred to and it was said they had gone into oblivion. That organisation made a number of very good suggestions which are being acted on, such as the setting up of a national potato co-operative. This has been set up with a marketing arm. Evidence of its effectiveness will be seen as it grows from strength to strength.
Last week we set up a national vegetable horticultural co-operative, again with the help of the farming organisations and ACOT, in order to bring some rationale into the market. For far too long we have been growing things and just hoping we could sell them. Of course the right approach would have been to go into the supermarkets, find out what products people are buying and produce them. Thanks again to the recommendations of the national horticultural committee we have decided to grant aid the glasshouse industry. Many of the food imports we have been talking about come about because the glasshouse owners were not able to heat their premises and we were consequently importing. Our grant aid is for the conversion of heating from oil to solid fuel. These grants are being taken up.
I have spoken about the fallacy of imports. Most of our imports are composed of off season produce such as tomatoes and peppers. We can do much in that regard and I suggest that Mallow is the kind of place where it could be done, as was pointed out last evening. We have a big climatic advantage on the south coast but we are not taking full advantage of it.
As Minister of State with responsibility for food production, my responsibility is to knuckle down and try to do something about Mallow. This I am prepared to do, but if I am to do it I will need the co-operation of everybody, Members of the House, those who are working in Mallow and the growers there. We need the co-operation of everybody.
I have been around for a long time. I have been growing crops for East Cork Foods for 25 years without a break. I know something about the problems of the company. Neither in the case of East Cork Foods nor in the case of Erin Foods has there been any inherent problems in the factories nor in relation to growers. So far as Midleton is concerned we were lucky to have succeeded in attracting an overseas company to become involved there, admittedly in a small way, but that involvement has convinced me that we have the best pea growing land in the world. That company were so pleased that they are now considering further development in Ireland.
One of the main reasons for the Mallow plant and East Cork Foods not succeeding was our failure to gain access to the market place. Our own market is pitiably small, so small that one small plant would flood it. Therefore, we must concentrate on exports. The horticultural market in the UK is very much a closed shop. Our weakness was always that we were depending on brokers and the very haphazard type of arrangements when we put our crops into the ground. This is not sufficient because these are high cost crops and we must know whether at the end of the day we will be able to sell them, and if so, what prices we can command for them. We were always prepared to settle for modest profits and that was important. I have been having discussions with a company who have a big share of that market and, with the help of everyone concerned, we hope to have that sort of involvement in a new operation.
