asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food whether he accepts the merits of a proposal to establish an independent inspectorate to undertake weighing and grading of pigs at processing plants.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Grading of Pigs.
51.
A Community scheme for the grading of pig carcases by reference to lean meat content will be introduced on 1 January 1989. The scheme will apply in all plants catering for the home and exports markets which slaughter at least 200 pigs per week. Grading will be carried out by factory personnel. However, officers of my Department will be closely monitoring the scheme to ensure full compliance with the provisions of the Community regulations. I believe that these arrangements are the most appropriate for implementing the new grading measures.
The necessary legislative provisions to give effect to the new grading scheme will be put before the House in the autumn. Deputies will then have the opportunity to participate in a full examination of the arrangements being proposed.
I am sure the Minister will accept the need for the producer to have confidence if we are to attain the increase from two million pigs to three million pigs. Will he accept that many producers will not be happy with the proposed arrangement from 1 January next? Even at this stage, will he consider a change in those arrangements which would lead to confidence on the part of the producers? I am not making allegations against the factory personnel but there is perceived to be a problem in that regard. Will the Minister agree that it would be far better to have an independent inspectorate rather than grading being done by factory personnel?
I understand the Deputy's concern and I share his commitment to ensuring that we have the highest possible standards and that our supervision and inspection will guarantee that. We are agreed on that point. As I indicated to the Deputy, we will have an opportunity to go into this in detail because I propose to introduce the necessary legislation early in the new session, before the scheme comes into effect in January. The points the Deputy made will then be taken into account. It is very important that the market will be the criterion and that producers and processors will be very conscious — as I am sure they will be — that, unless they produce quality, they will not get quality prices. That will be an important element in our approach because nobody will buy poor quality from any source. I will not go into technical detals here as they will be much more appropriate during the course of the debate but there are different means, standards and investigations and we propose to introduce the most stringent and efficient ones.
The Minister may be missing the point. We are agreed on the need for quality but the problem is that many producers feel that when they produce quality goods they are not given the proper grade which will give them the top price. Someone suggested to me that if the general price goes up the grade automatically goes down in some areas. Obviously, there is a need for confidence on the part of the procedures that having produced the quality they will get the proper grades. That is why I urge the Minister, before the regulation is implemented, to have one independent inspectorate, which will solve the problem.
I acknowledge the validity of the Deputy's remarks. Perhaps the Deputy does not know that the regulations to which I referred do not oblige slaughterers to relate payment to lean meat content although they may relate to the grading. We will obviously have to give serious attention to this matter because it is of vital importance for the producer. If he produces the quality, he should be paid for it.
That disposes of ordinary and priority questions for today.
I wish to raise on the Adjournment the decision of the Minister for Education to issue directives to VECs which, when complied with by Kilkenny VEC, resulted in the withdrawal of funding from a scheme which provided instruction for 70 adult mentally handicapped people in the Kilkenny area.
I will communicate with the Deputy.