Skip to main content
Normal View

Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 21 Mar 1990

Vol. 397 No. 3

Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Meat Processing Industry.

Pat Rabbitte

Question:

14 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the steps, if any, he intends to take to promote the meat processing industry, especially in light of the decision not to proceed with the proposed Agra meat group development for Newbridge, County Kildare; the steps, if any, he intends to take to promote the development of branded steak products; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

The question of whether it would be advantageous to promote the development of branded steak products is primarily one for the meat industry in consultation with Córas Beostoic agus Feola and the IDA.

Córas Beostoic agus Feola provide a valuable service to the meat processing industry by assisting in market promotion and developments. In the next few years the industry will also be able to draw on increased supplies of raw material from the expanding national breeding herd. This expansion has been underpinned by an attractive package of grants including the suckler cow premium, special beef premium and headage type measures. EC measures such as export refunds, aids for private storage and to some extent intervention provide a degree of support at market level. Finally, the processing industry is assisted by selected direct grant aid from the IDA and FEOGA for eligible processing plants.

As a very progressive thinker on the agricultural scene, why did the Minister not take the initiative to get this under way? Our Government have failed to market Irish beef abroad as a distinctive product. Why did the Minister not take that initiative on board himself? Will he agree that the seasonality nature of production affects the marketing? Will he agree also that the total cattle numbers fluctuated very much, particularly between 1984 and 1989, and that we have a reduction of about 70,000 at present? What attempt will the Minister make to initiate the project?

With CBF and the IDA the Department of Agriculture and Food are continuously supporting, assisting and encouraging the industry to get the maximum added value within the country. The Deputy will recall that in reply to Question No. 10 the Minister, Deputy O'Kennedy, indicated the increased figures for exports of vacpac beef and boneless beef. I think we are going in the right direction, but we are not entirely happy that the industry is going quickly enough in that direction. To that end the Minister said he had established a review body which will report to him in the next couple of months, indicating the direction in which the industry should be going.

Where has the Minister's verve and excitment on food processing in the last two and half years gone? It is a litany of failures — Goodman, Agra, Ballybay, a whole host of them. He made the famous statement with Larry Goodman on the famous occasion he was putting food processing on the fast track.

Relevant questions, please.

Because it is related to this topic I ask the Minister what is happening to the Goodman International Group——

That is a separate matter altogether.

It is related to food processing.

It is an extension of this question out of all proportion. I want to call Deputy Durkan; too many Deputies are offering.

Has an analysis been done for the failure of the Agra trading project in Newbridge? If so, was any specific identification of those problems set out? Will the Minister confirm that there was the possibility that the nonviability and unreliability of slaughtering in one location and processing in another location, thereby doubling handling costs, would have been a contributory factor? Can he make a statement in that regard?

It is a disappointment that Agra could not and did not feel they could continue that project. They invested a considerable amount of money in research and development and in the purchase of the Polaroid plant at Newbridge. Following research by Agra and the IDA it was felt that the type of packaging and consumer rejection of the branded product concerned were the two main difficulties in relation to the project. Before they got too far into the project they decided to have another look at it.

Will the Minister agree there was something radically wrong when the type of money he is talking about was spent on the project in Newbridge before the necessary R and D were carried out into the product and its acceptability to the consumer? Is he aware of the developments in the meat processing area where there was primary, top class employment? We are talking about vac pac, but does he agree that the employment in this area is now a yellow pack type of employment in the meat processing industry without unions, without proper rates of pay and very often on the edges of the black economy?

It was in R and D, particularly market research, that the money was spent and before going into commercial production it was decided to call it off for the time being. That was a sensible approach. Agra were quite open about their consultations with the IDA and the Department. They said they had spent a considerable amount of money on research and development and their research indicated that this product would not be commercially viable on the European marketplace.

Was there a feasibility study?

There was no grant aid of any description. It was a high risk project from the start. We are trying to encourage industries to take those types of risks. In this case the risk involved was too great as was shown up by the R and D. There was no question of going headlong into commercial production without having the R and D done.

Will the Minister accept that, because he announced a commercially viable operation in this Agra food processing operation, he pre-empted the situation due to the fact, as he admitted, that it had just gone as far as the R and D stage? Will he accept also that there is a strong case to review the discarded strategy for the food industry in conjunction with the IDA in view of the many collapses that have been outlined in relation to Goodman, Agra and Ballybay and that a new food policy is required?

A short supplementary——

I will call the next question as soon as the Minister of State replies. We have dwelt too long on this one.

In relation to the food industry, exports of food have increased in the last couple of years from £2.4 billion to £3.5 billion and to that extent the figures are impressive. We need people to come forward with high value projects, high risk projects, but there needs to be a certain level of R and D carried out in the first instance. If everybody sat back and let other countries make the running we would never get anywhere.

(Interruptions.)

Next question.

One final supplementary.

Top
Share