Vol. 403 No. 10
6 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the total amount and value of (a) dairy products and (b) meat held in intervention by this country at the latest date for which figures are available; if he has any plans to dispose of this stock; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The information requested is as follows and relates to the position on 30 November 1990:
|
Tonnes |
Value |
|
|
£m |
||
|
(a) Butter |
79,002 |
57.1 |
|
Skim Milk Powder |
92,145 |
56.3 |
|
(b) Beef |
155,481 |
176.9 |
Disposal of these products is a matter for the EC in consultation with the member states in the context of the relevant market management committees. Sales of products occur in accordance with regulations from time to time and their success or otherwise depends on the market situation. Other disposals take place in the form of food aid, social and denaturing schemes.
Can the Minister explain why the stocks of these products in intervention have been increasing over the course of the year?
Certainly. The reaction to the BSE outbreak in the UK was quite dramatic among the consumers around the world. It is not for me to underline the significance of what happened in the UK, but beef consumption in Britain itself, which is one of our main markets, dropped dramatically by about 20 per cent. Beef consumption throughout the EC dropped dramatically by at least 10 per cent. Beef consumption in third country markets, some of which I will refer to in further questions today, be it Libya, Iran or elsewhere, also dropped dramatically. As a consequence of that market contraction, the intervention system came into place. Without the intervention system in those circumstances, Ireland would have a very serious price collapse in beef.
What is the possibility or probability of a great deal of this intervention storage, which must be the greatest volume of intervention we have had for many years, being hived off to the Soviet Union via whatever vehicle might be there? What is the up-to-date position on that?
Negotiations are going on at this very moment in the Commission — it is a matter for the Commission as the Deputy must be aware — in relation to food supplies in the Soviet Union and the basis on which they can be put in place. The Soviet Union is but one area that is being considered in accordance with established practice. I think everyone would wish to see the intervention stocks being disposed of to the widest possible extent at the best possible price so that the cost to the European Community budget, which eventually comes back to us in any event, would be minimised.
Will the Minister agree that, while the disease has affected beef and skim milk, the largest tonnage of butter in intervention was due to a number of co-operatives competing with others putting dairy spreads on the market and doing serious damage thereby? People in other countries had to be asked to refrain from doing that because they were doing damage to the dairy industry. Will he not agree it is time there was co-responsibility between the co-operatives and that they should revert to the sale of butter which is their primary aim and what they were set up to do?
I agree entirely with what the Deputy has said. I am heartened to find that view expressed in support of what I have said myself. I find it absolutely self-contradictory that co-operatives whose role it is to promote the interests of their members and their suppliers in the dairy sector have been promoting products which have no dairy content at all, against the interests of their producers. I have conveyed that to them very directly and bluntly, and I hope their suppliers and shareholders will continue to bring pressure on them to change that.
Is there legislation?
There is legislation but we will have to strengthen it. On the second point, there is another element that has to be considered. Some claims are being made that certain non-dairy products have a very positive impact on cardiac conditions and matters of that sort. Those claims are now being questioned, to say the least of it, even by cardiac consultants. It is time the wholesome, natural dairy product fought back, and I believe there are good grounds to demonstrate to the consumer that you are always on safer ground when you take the natural product in reasonable quantity.
A number of Deputies are offering. I will facilitate them if they will be brief, including Deputy Connor and Deputy Boylan.
Does the Minister not accept that there is a growing world demand for quality food products of which we have an abundance? Does he not accept that the State has not played its role in funding the various marketing agencies we have here in promoting the quality food we have? To take him up on his last point, as an example I refer to a recent report to the effect that margarines manufactured from vegetable oil have an ingredient that is a serious cause of heart attacks and the dairy industry has not homed in on it to draw the consumer's attention to the fact that dairy products are now found to be far better for health than these products which have an ingredient similar to one——
I had hoped for brevity.
——which is used in the car industry.
I think the Deputy has made his point.
The Deputy has made a strong point and I do not disagree with what he says in relation to the positive effect of wholesome, natural food and I am glad that was said here. I am making vigorous approaches to the European Commission with a view to getting a greater proportion of the co-responsibility levy made available for the vigorous marketing of dairy products throughout the EC and elsewhere.
While we sympathise with the Minister's aim to dispose of the surplus stock to the Soviet Union, would he not agree that in this country where we have one in three on the poverty line one way of disposing of these massive quantities of beef and butter, particularly during the Christmas season, would be to give a substantial portion of it to our own citizens who are so badly in need of these products but can ill afford them?
I am glad to confirm to the Deputy that our dealings are not confined to the Soviet Union in the first instance. They are worldwide in terms of disposing of intervention stocks, although the Soviet Union is obviously, in particular need at this point.
In relation to our stocks I am glad to tell the Deputy that in the beef sector particularly, which is very much a target for the disadvantaged and the old, our programme will be very much bigger this year than last year. We will be supplying 600 tonnes to the St. Vincent de Paul Society, 100 tonnes to the various hostels and 420 tonnes to hospitals. I will continue to press my colleagues in the European Community to increase those amounts. The Deputy can take it that I vigorously endorse the suggestions he has made and always have done.
Could the Minister tell us the value or the quantity of the foodstuffs that have been rendered either inedible or unusable by the denaturing process?
I do not have that information here. It is a separate question. I will try to get it for the Deputy.
Could the Minister put these stocks into some historical context, relate them to previous agricultural over supplies and the stocks that built up on those occasions? Can he say what conclusions we should drawn from these ones by historical comparison?
Beef intervention intake for 1990 has been at record levels. There is no question about that, and it is as well for the Irish beef producers that it has been. We have been the biggest beneficiaries. The situation is similar in regard to skim milk powder and dairy products because of the downward trend in the world dairy markets. I was one of those pressing for dairy intervention for skim milk powder. Since the autumn of 1989 the European Community responded and reintroduced intervention tendering for butter in January 1990 and for skim milk powder in March 1990. We have done that as a safety net and I would hope that that, combined with vigorous marketing of the wholesome nature of the product, would help us to maintain producer prices and above all else, to reduce intervention stocks.
Can the Minister tell us the total annual storage costs for keeping the volume of products now in intervention?
That seems to be a separate question, Deputy.
I do not have that information.
