Vol. 400 No. 3
3 Mr. Sherlock asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he has received the report of the interdepartmental group on the future of the Irish Sugar Company; the membership of the group; the number of occasions on which it met; if he will outline its main recommendations; if he will further outline the Government's proposals for the future of the Irish Sugar Company; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
4 Mr. Connaughton asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if the Government intend to privatise the Irish Sugar Company in the near future; if he will give a guarantee that the sugar beet quota will be protected; if job levels will be maintained; and if preferential shares will be offered to farmers and employees.
70 Mr. Browne (Carlow/Kilkenny) asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he has any plans for the privatisation of Comhlucht Siúicre Éireann.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 3, 4 and 70 together.
The report of the ad hoc group set up to examine the options for the future development of Siúicre Éireann cpt. is at present under consideration by the Government. Accordingly, I am not in a position to make a statement on the matter at this stage. I can assure the Deputies that all the relevant considerations after appropriate consultations will be borne in mind when a final decision is being made.
The group consisted of representatives of the Departments of Agriculture and Food, and Finance, and also included the chairman of Siúicre Éireann cpt. and an official from the Industrial Development Authority. The group met on seven occasions.
Does the Minister not agree that it is a long time since this House was informed that such a report was being considered by the Government?In view of the fact that statements of one kind or another are causing much concern to growers and workers in the industry, is a decision about to be made or is the report of the sub-committee to be shelved indefinitely?
The matter is under consideration by the Government. The Deputy will appreciate that there are consultations involved with interests such as the trade unions and the Beet Growers' Association. A number of complex issues are involved and the Government have endorsed my decision to have full consultations in order to demonstrate to everybody that the action which will eventually come from Government and from me as Minister for Agriculture will be such as to be acceptable to the widest possible range and in the national interest.
Is the Minister saying that unless the interest groups are satisfied after negotiations, the Government will not move? Can I take it that the interests of farmers who have beet acreages and the interests of trade union members will be protected and that the Government will not move on privatisation until everybody is relatively happy?
I have the greatest respect for farmer and trade union interests but that respect cannot extend to the elevation of one or other to the point where they take Government responsibility. The Deputy is quite wrong in thinking that the demands of one or other will have to be established as Government policy. We will give the fullest and fairest consideration to their interests but they are not always in agreement with each other. The Deputy would not want this or any Government to abrogate their responsibility by telling the farmers that whatever they want will become Government policy.
Will the Minister bring them in for negotiations?
I will have discussions with them.
Has the Minister already begun discussions with representatives of the growers and the trade unions or is he saying that because of the time of the year there is no question of the recommendations of the report being implemented this year?
Contacts have been made with my colleague, the Minister for Labour, who is more regularly in contact with trade union interests at the highest level than I, with a view to an early discussion on this issue. I am quite satisfied we will have a useful discussion on their legitimate interest in what is happening. I met the Beet Growers' Association group recently and my officials have had consultations with them as well.
Can I take it that the various interest groups would need to sound a warning that some morning they might find that the whole system has been privatised without their interests being adequately protected?
I do not have any control over the manner in which Deputy Connaughton chooses, in a very inaccurate and extraordinarily inappropriate way, to postulate that the whole thing will be taken over some morning. No such nonsense has been contemplated. The Deputy should not use such expressions. It is not in anybody's interests. It will not happen that way.
The Minister is side-stepping the tackle.
I am surprised at the Minister's reply. I raised the concern expressed by people engaged in the industry. The vagueness of the Minister's reference to consultations with the Minister for Labour, who in turn will be in consultation with the unions, is not enough.
That is not what is proposed. The Minister for Labour, who is in regular contact, will make arrangements with the union interests to meet me and the Minister for Labour together. We recognise that the legitimate interests of the employees of Comhlucht Siúicre Éireann are involved. I propose to meet them at a mutually convenient time. That is the only purpose of the consultations.
Before the decision is taken.
Yes.
