Ba mhaith liom, ar an gcéad dul síos, tréaslú don Aire Talmhaíochta as ucht an méid atá san Mheastachán.
In welcoming the Estimate introduced by the Minister for Agriculture it is no harm to reflect briefly on where we in Ireland fit into the European agricultural scene, given that the Common Agricultural Policy lists among its five major aims the ensuring of a fair standard of living for farmers. It is supremely important to remember that and I should like to devote my time to that aspect. In that context it is well to remember that the Irish Republic is comprised of 17 million acres of which 12 million acres are utilised for agricultural purposes. Of that 12 million acres, 11 million are used for pastures and approximately one million for tillage of which 70 per cent is utilised for cereal production.
Of the 264,000 agricultural holdings classified by size 176,000,67 per cent, are less than 50 acres. The EC document, the Agricultural Policy of the European Community, issued in October 1982, states that the average farm size in Ireland is 22.52 hectares — one multiplies that by 2.5 to get acres — and the corresponding figure for the UK is 68.70 hectares, or roughly 3:1.
An analysis of the holdings in my own county, Limerick, and neighbouring counties, shows that in Limerick there are 10,935 holdings with 6,195, or 56 per cent, under 50 acres. In Clare there are 11,866 holdings with 7,205, or 61 per cent, under 50 acres. In Kerry there are 16,802 holdings with 10,856, or 65 per cent, under 50 acres while in Tipperary North Riding there are 6,480 holdings with 3,217, or 50 per cent, under 50 acres.
The Labour Party have always been conscious of the contribution small farmers make to the Irish economy. In the Commission's price proposals and review of the CAP, one of the objectives outlined was to deal more effectively and systematically with the income problems of small farmers. It is worth noting that approximately 180,000 — 16 per cent of the workforce — are employed directly in agriculture compared to 2.7 per cent in the UK and 12 per cent in Italy. The estimated value of gross agricultural output in 1985 was £2.7 billion. It is interesting to compare the number employed in the 26 commercial semi-State organisations which come under the aegis of my committee, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on State-Sponsored Bodies. They employ approximately 80,000 people or equivalent to 44 per cent of those employed in agriculture. Approximately 20 per cent of farmers are 65 years of age or over and we should not overlook the significant employment that is directly available in agriculture.
In regard to employment I should like to quote from the Final Commission's Proposals on the Prices for Agricultural Products and on Related Measures, dated 13 February 1986 which states:
The situation on the employment market is still the most serious economic and social problem in the Community. It gives particular concern at a time when growing numbers of young people of working age are unemployed and when government efforts to bring public finances into order, especially in some Member States, leave little room for more vigorous action to stimulate investment and create new employment.
As I said earlier, we produce only 2.2 per cent of total EC production. I am speaking about when there were only ten members. Naturally, because of our dependence on pastures, grassland which is one of our greatest natural resources, our agricultural production reflects the output of this asset in beef and milk, and the significant difference between us and other EC states is that we must export more than 80 per cent of our beef production and more than 75 per cent of our cheese and butter production. Therefore, EC policies that affect Community prices have a real impact on the incomes of many small farmers who are involved in dairying and beef production in Ireland.
It must be understood that farmers' incomes are determined by cost of production and the price they receive. Through the CAP, the EC determine common prices, although costs of production vary in each member state. This point is made in The Irish Times today by Michael Dillon, their agricultural correspondent:
For instance, Irish farmers grudgingly get a 3 per cent VAT refund to compensate for the VAT that they pay on some farm inputs, but German farmers get a 13 per cent refund to compensate them for a revaluation of the green mark. Irish farmers also get the lowest possible grants for farm improvements, and the lowest headage payments in the disadvantaged areas, because our Government cannot match the top rates.
We must be conscious always that farm incomes not only affect the farmers themselves but the towns and the cities where they make their purchases. It has been accepted that, when the farming community are doing well, their local towns and cities benefit. The comparative position in regard to farming for each EC member state makes interesting reading.
I will refer to a report in the 6 June issue of The Irish Times, again by Michael Dillion. If it is true it is a national outrage. The article refers to headage payments in disadvantaged areas and I hope the Minister will refer to the allegations when he is replying:
A group of farmers in Sligo is planning to mount a challenge to the restrictions placed on headage payments in disadvantaged areas by the Government here. These headage payments on cattle and sheep which are part funded by the EC, are intended to keep the population up on farms in difficult areas, and in this country they are kept to the minimum allowed and are not available to farmers who either through their own efforts, or because their spouses are working, have an off farm income of more than £6,400 a year. This clause cuts out 500 herd owners from a total of 5,000 in Sligo, with up to 1,500 barred in Donegal, and between 3,500 and 5,000 farmers on a national basis.
The odd thing is that because of a separate order made by the Department of Agriculture, members of the Oireachtas, TDs and Senators, are not barred, and in fact it is claimed that two British MPs are actually drawing headage payments, and of course large scale farmers are also eligible, while small farmers with labouring jobs, or with working wives of husbands are cut off from this source of supplementary income.
This clause is particularly ironic at the present time when the German Government has just increased by 50 per cent the area of their country classed as less favoured, or disadvantaged, in order to be able to make direct payments to all farmers on good land as a compensation for the cuts in farm price supports, their cut off point for eligibility is very high, and does not differentiate between farm income and money earned off the farm. In Britain there is no means test whatever.
As I have said, if that is true it is a national outrage. It is estimated that there are 10,000 working people engaged in agricultural development and it is totally discriminatory to withhold EC aid from them aimed at improving the general level of Irish agriculture.
I was astonished to learn from the article I have just cited that TDs and Senators engaged in agriculture qualify for headage grant payments in the severely handicapped areas while they are denied to other farmers who have to take up employment in factories and elsewhere but whose income exceeds £6,400. I am not opposed to paying people grants for which they are qualified, but it is absolutely farcical to pay these grants to selected groups and to deny them to a broad group of trade union workers whose earnings are only a fraction of the other groups. Those people pay their PAYE and PRSI as well as tax and insurance on their cars which they use to take them to and from work, and of course they pay a considerable tax on petrol.
I am putting it to the Minister that he should end this farce. I accept that there is a need for a cut-off point because otherwise you could have some vet, for instance, with an annual income of £40,000, qualifying for these grants. However, the present position is anomalous. For example, farmer A with an annual income of £8,000 solely from his farm qualifies for these payments, but his neighbour, farmer B, with an annual income of £1,000 from his farm and £6,000 from a job — perhaps it is his wife who works — is denied these payments. Accordingly, the part time farmerworker can lose £700 in grants by earning an extra £100 a week. It is obvious there should be a differentiation between a person on PAYE and one paying schedule D income tax, somebody engaged in a trade or profession, but the Minister should look at this whole question again because it seems people are penalised if they are marginally on a PAYE income.
I understand that these headage payments are made under EC directive, not regulations, and each member state has a considerable degree of latitude in how the directive is implemented. I think the Irish criteria for qualification are too tight. They provide that a farmer must spend more than half his time on the farm; he must obtain more than half of his income from the farm; the off-farm income of both the farmer and his spouse must not exceed £6,400 per annum, or £123 per week. The average disposable income per week in Ireland is approximately £100 per acre.
Farming is now a highly capital intensive industry and the Labour Party, the oldest in the country, since their foundation have maintained that small farmers were the backbone of the Irish economy. My party have always wanted to see as many persons working on the land as possible earning a decent living for their families.
As the Minister has said, great improvements have been made in the past year in disease eradication but unfortunately there has been a cut-back in money and this year a complete round of testing will not be carried out. We must have targets in this programme, as was pointed out in the NESC report, No. 79. We must make every effort as a Government and as a people to ensure that we will have the highest standards in cattle health. While the Minister will say that all support possible has been and will be given to the farming community, it is ridiculous in this day to embark on such a scheme without the aid of up-to-date facilities such as those existing in the North of Ireland and Britain. There must be a special computer section with qualified people in the Department of Agriculture to keep data on cattle health and try to keep control over a situation that would be ridiculous if it were allowed to obtain in private industry. I am talking about the movement two or three times per year of six million cattle throughout the State. If any modern private enterprise tried to cope with that task without the aid of a computer section, they would be laughed off the face of the earth. The Minister and the Department should give serious consideration to having a computer section to help in that matter.
The same NESC report recognised the need for investment in drainage, especially in the western areas. I regret the Opposition spokesman on Agriculture did not see fit to refer to that matter. It is a problem that requires urgent attention. In my area in Limerick I am aware of the need to drain the Mulcair river. We have made an excellent case to the Minister and to the Government as to why that river should be drained. It would give the best return for money invested. It would increase agricultural output by an estimated £27 million per year, and that is a conservative estimate. It would also create employment with jobs ranging between 300 and 600 on the Mulcair river, with a downstream spin-off effect, on IDA calculations, of between 600 and 800 new jobs.
I saw the dreadful floodings that have taken place and two years ago Senator Hourigan and I visited the areas concerned. At that time human beings were nearly drowned. I understand the Taoiseach gave a commitment to the Mulcair Drainage Society that the river would be drained as soon as possible. I call on him and the Minister for Agriculture to honour that commitment given to the farmers of east Limerick. The whole project might usefully be brought under the National Development Corporation. What is proposed would cost the State nothing, but employment could be created for tens of thousands of people. Grants are available from the EC and I do not understand why this work is not being carried out. I understand the economists in the Office of Public Works have said that the project would be self-financing. I am asking that the reports on the matter be published as soon as possible and that drainage work be moved from the Office of Public Works to the Department of Agriculture.
At the moment there are double standards obtaining in relation to animal hygiene. There are unlicensed slaughterhouses in Limerick and elsewhere that are defying all the efforts of the statutory bodies to eliminate cattle diseases. I propose that fines of £50,000 be imposed on these unlicensed illegal slaughterhouses to stop those double standards. Recently in Limerick a consignment of diseased meat was sent to Sarsfield barracks which could have poisoned half of the people there. We must ensure that we have the highest standards in animal hygiene if we are to continue to be regarded as one of the principal agricultural nations in Europe.
