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Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 13 Dec 1990

Vol. 403 No. 10

Adjournment Debate. - Agriculture and Food and Industry and Commerce Matters.

The House will now hear one minute statements on matters appropriate to the Minister for Agriculture and Food and the Minister for Industry and Commerce. I propose to call on Deputy Michael Finucane, Deputy Jimmy Deenihan and Deputy Philip Hogan to make one minute statements in respect of two matters appropriate to the Minister for Agriculture and Food, to be followed by statements by Deputies Michael Finucane and Deputy Séamus Cullimore on matters appropriate to the Minister for Industry and Commerce. Each Deputy is entitled to one minute and the two Ministers have five minutes between them to reply and they may apportion that time as they think appropriate between themselves.

In a recent reply the Minister indicated it was hoped the appeals system would cater for an additional 1.5 per cent of the country which would mean an addition of 255,000 acres to the disadvantaged areas. With what has been evolving on the agricultural scene, which has led to a considerable decline in income for farmers, it will, therefore, be a bitter disappointment to farmers and all concerned if this is the full extent of the revision under the appeals system. Farmers are awaiting the appeals system with eager anticipation. What is its format? How will farmers know how to ensure their townlands are considered under the appeals system? When is it being introduced? Many farmers are irate and are demanding an urgent response. What can the Minister do to allay their concern?

The Kerry Head area of Ballyheigue, County Kerry, includes the townlands of Maulin, Glendery, Tiduff, Tiershanughan, Dreenagh and Cloghaneleesh. This land is very unproductive. It is mostly mountainous and rocky with very few areas of deep soil. It is exposed to the bitter, high saline, south-westerly winds from the Atlantic. The population is composed mostly of small farmers whose average milk quota is about 7,000 gallons. I find it inexplicable that the Kerry Head area was not included in the category of small coastal areas with specific handicap in the Government submission to Brussels, despite the fact that vast areas of coast land were submitted for other counties in this category. For example, 13,134 hectares was submitted from Cork, 8,638 hectares from Waterford, 10,568 hectares from Wexford, 7,508 hectares from Louth, 2,087 hectares from Dublin, 3,728 hectares from Wicklow and 1,868 hectares from Meath. The people of Kerry Head need direct income aids from the EC——

The Deputy must conclude.

——if they are to survive on farms. I appeal to the Minister to give priority to Kerry Head under the appeals tribunal system as they have been shabbily treated by not being included in the present submission.

On 1 July 1986 the Minister for Agriculture announced details of a scheme for installation aid for young farmers. This scheme allowed farmers under 35 years of age at the time of first installation to be eligible for a payment of £5,600 provided certain conditions were fulfilled in respect of education and labour requirement. However, it is clear that an increasing number of people are ineligible for this scheme, particularly because of the labour unit criterion. I am calling on the Minister for Agriculture and Food to change the labour unit requirement between 0.5 and 1.5 labour units. In addition the labour unit calculation criteria should be extended to all intensive farming enterprises. The second instalment, which was payable as an interest subsidy under the Directive, should apply to Ireland as soon as possible. The scheme should be extended to to cover entrants under long term leasing arrangements in order to encourage greater use of land. It is important also that a review take place immediately in relation to this scheme in order to improve land mobility. Young farmers in the present agricultural climate need every encouragement to pursue a career in farming.

The second matter I wish to raise is in respect of the Land Commission staff. In 1987 a decision to wind up the Land Commission was made by offering voluntary early retirement or redeployment to existing staff. There were 13 people involved. An arbitrary redeployment agreement was reached between the union and certain Departments, including Agriculture, Finance and Justice. In fact, there was collusion between the union involved and the Departments involved in respect of this agreement and this upset the status quo. A recent decision of the High Court taken on 12 December last indicated that the Minister for Agriculture and Finance had no powers of redeployment. The decision of that court indicated a reinstatement to all former employees plus costs to the Land Commission. In spite of this unfair and inhumane treatment to the Ministers' own staffs——

The Deputy must now conclude.

I am asking the Minister for Agriculture and Food to consider his own position in view of the shabby way he treated his staff.

The Shannon estuary has been regarded as a jewel of the western world. It is a magnificent waterway. Its potential has not been fully exploited. We have had some worthwhile developments on the estuary such as the ESB stations at Tarbert and Moneypoint, the Aughinish-Alumina project. However, it needs to be marketed in a planned way to zone in on major industrialists worldwide. Is this being done? Are the potential customers being targeted? Who is targeting them? What is the time scale of this plan? I look forward to the Minister's response as more industry is required in order to harness the true potential of this great waterway.

The purpose of this question is to ascertain how the supermarket multiples funded their cash voucher scheme. There are a number of methods that may have been used. I suggest the supermarket multiples may have broken the ban on below cost selling or they may have increased prices over a period of time and then offered reductions, or the supermarkets themselves may have put excessive pressure on manufacturers or processors. If any one of these methods has been adopted it has long term disadvantages for both the consumer and the grocery trade in general. If they have broken the ban on below cost selling, penalties will have to be introduced. If prices were increased over a period and then reductions offered I suggest the Director of Consumer Affairs and Fair Trade should publicise this and communicate it to the general public. Many families at Christmas time find it difficult to understand how the supermarkets could offer 20 per cent reductions in November and now when we have economies of scale and increasing sales those reductions are not available.

I will first deal with Deputy Michael Finucane's question in regard to the disadvantaged areas scheme appeals system. We are asking the EC Commission to allow us to introduce an appeals procedure to deal with genuine anomalies and are seeking EC approval to be allowed to add up to 1½ per cent of the country, 255,000 acres, to our disadvantaged areas by Commission procedure without having to go to the EC Council of Ministers. The 1½ per cent is the limit allowed under EC legislation for this purpose. This approach is in line with the commitment given in the programme for Government in September 1989. Until our submission is approved, however, it would not be possible to set up an effective appeals system or decide its terms of reference.

I will now deal with Deputy Deenihan's question on the Kerry Head area. The Kerry Head area of Ballyheigue is classified as less severely handicapped at present. If, as requested by the Deputy, it was to be reclassified as a coastal area with special handicaps, the rates of payments that would apply in such an area would be less than those applicable in a less severely handicapped area.

Deputy Phil Hogan asked a question in relation to the young farmer establishment aid scheme. The question of change to the scheme of installation aid for young farmers in the light of amendments to the EC Regulation governing the scheme is under examination in my Department. It is hoped to take decisions on the results of that examination shortly.

Deputy Hogan also inquired about the staffing levels in the Land Commission. The Land Commission consist of a judicial commissioner, three lay commissioners and the following staff: 55 in the administrative, executive and clerical grades, four professional legal staff; 74 inspectors, including six on secondment to other areas, six surveyors and 15 in the service grades, paperkeepers, messengers and so on.

Arrangements are being made by my Department to transfer a number of inspectors from Land Commission work to other duties in the Department. This aspect was dealt with at Question Time this afternoon.

Deputy Cullimore will appreciate that no useful purpose would be served by informing the Dáil of the findings of the Director of Consumer Affairs following his investigation as to how leading supermarket stores funded the recent voucher scheme. The reason for this is basically simple. The Director of Consumer Affairs and Fair Trade is, by virtue of the legislation, independent in the exercise of his functions.

The situation in relation to the recent voucher scheme is as follows. The grocery trade is subject to regulation by means of the Restrictive Practices (Grocery) Order, 1987. The Director of Consumer Affairs and Fair Trade has the responsibility of enforcing the order. Having received legal advice he decided that the three multiples involved in the money off voucher scheme were in breach of the terms of the order. Accordingly, they were asked to desist from the practice. I understand from the director that they have complied with his request and have ceased the voucher schemes. My understanding is that the investigation was directed at whether there was a breach of the order rather than how the promotion was funded. Even if the director had so investigated and supplied the Minister with the results I could not envisage such confidential commercial information being made available.

In reply to Deputy Finucane, a specific promotional programme for the estuary planned by SFADCo is now being implemented in conjunction with the IDA making use, in particular, of the IDA's widespread network of overseas offices, facilities and contacts.

As regards the promotion of the estuary for industrial development purposes I would like to assure the Deputy that the entire estuary area is being treated as a high priority location.

In the past 12 months a consultancy assignment was undertaken in the United States involving the identification of over 50 major companies. These companies, based on market research, were perceived as environmentally suitable, were operating on a global basis and were likely to have a capacity shortage or production need for which the estuary would offer a solution.

Having identified the companies concerned the next step taken was to access the key decision makers at the highest level possible. Based on reaction to the approach a total of ten of the companies were then targeted for a further followup and within the past week, detailed presentations have been made to each of these companies. The companies cover a wide span of interests ranging from heavy industry through to pharmaceuticals, healthcare and leisure activities.

It is, obviously, much too early at this stage to assess the likely extent of interest or to predict the ultimate outcome of this particular approach. I understand that a follow-up is planned for the new year and I am sure that we all join in hoping that these efforts will bear fruit in the near future.

The next stage of the marketing strategy will concentrate on targeting potentially interested promoters in the Far East. This will be carried out during the coming year and I would, again, hope that it will succeed ultimately in attracting some new overseas investors to the region.

I would like to finish by once again assuring the Deputy that every effort will be made by SFADCo and the IDA working in conjunction and in close co-operation, to vigorously promote the estuary to attract suitable foreign investment as well as encouraging indigenous development to the maximum extent possible. The potential for development in the estuary is vast and it would be our intention to ensure that its largely untapped natural and economic resources be harnessed and built upon over the next four to five years.

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