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 Creed, Deputy Nealon, Deputy Hogan, Deputy Cotter, Deputy Flanagan and Deputy Finucane to make one minute statements appropriate to the Minister for Agriculture and Food in the first instance to be followed by a statement appropriate to the Minister for Industry and Commerce by Deputy Cotter. The Deputies are entitled to one minute each.
Adjournment Debate. - Agriculture and Food and Industry and Commerce Matters.
I thank the Minister for Agriculture and Food for giving his time to listen to my complaint. There is a delay in inspecting works approved under the control of farmyard pollution and other grants inspected by higher agricultural officers in various farm development offices throughout the country. This has come to my attention through contact with my constituents and from colleagues whom I heard making similar complaints.
It is appalling that the agricultural community, who have been encouraged by Teageasc officials in the Department of Agriculture and Food and those concerned about the environment to make such large investments at a time of scarce resources throughout the agricultural community, are treated in this contemptible manner by the Department. Will the Minister make sufficient resources available to the higher agricultural officers concerned on an annual basis rather than, as I understand at the moment, on a three monthly basis, as many of them exceed their allowance before that period has expired?
There is a totally unacceptable delay in issuing cheques by the Department of Agriculture and Food for headage, pollution control and other grants. The Minister will have received these complaints and every weekend my colleagues and I are inundated with complaints about the non-payment of headage grants. I cannot blame my local headage office in Sligo because some unpaid headage has been batched in the middle of December but it still has not been paid. There is a 90 day's wait as far as pollution controls are concerned and, to make it worse for farmers in difficult circumstances, the Department of Agriculture and Food will not answer telephone calls about this matter. In a time of crisis for farmers they deserve to have their cheques issued quickly.
I wish to raise the matter of the delay in payments of special beef premiums and EC suckler grants to many farmers in my constituency, Carlow-Kilkenny. It appears that there is a particular problem in Kilkenny because some farmers have been paid since early December while others have yet to receive payment in spite of the fact that the finance is available from the EC and has been lodged with the Department of Agriculture and Food. At a time when there are serious financial difficulties in the farming community, I cannot understand why the Minister for Agriculture and Food and the Government are deliberately delaying payment of these grants to farmers to enable the Minister to balance his departmental budget. It is certainly not acceptable in Kilkenny.
I will speak about conjecture and rumour, but I know that the Minister will respond in a decent and honourable fashion. There are rumours of cuts in milk quotas to particular types of suppliers in different parts of the country and I am worried about the effect of such cuts, particularly on handicapped areas. A cut of 10 per cent has been mentioned and we have also been told that they will be applied only to farmers who supply more than 42,800 gallons. In handicapped areas, that would apply to very big farmers.
We are concerned that, even though the cuts would be applied to people in that category, it would affect everybody in handicapped areas because the cost of collection and processing would increase dramatically which, obviously, would affect smaller producers. Bearing in mind that the co-operatives in those areas are already, to some degree, handicapped, I should like the Minister to respond.
As far as County Laois is concerned, there is a peculiar and unique problem which must be addressed by the Minister for Agriculture and Food. The leaked proposal on the disadvantaged area extension shows an increase from 18 per cent to 31 per cent of the lands in County Laois, which is one of the lowest increases in the country; that figure is a source of grave dissatisfaction, disappointment and discontent to everybody in the county.
Detailed examination of a soil map of the county clearly shows that 58 per cent of the lands in County Laois is comprised of wet organic soil, unsuitable for tillage and of little agricultural value. Most of the land in the county was not even surveyed by departmental officials last year, which is clearly unsatisfactory compared to other counties and having regard to the level of farm incomes in the county in recent years.
Submissions have now been made from areas not surveyed, including Mountmellick, O'Moore's Forest, Cullohill, The Marsh, Clonkeen, Trumera, Lisduff, Oldtown, Wolfehill and Ballyroan. Examination of these submissions show that all the necessary criteria are complied with.
I ask the Minister to assure me that every consideration will be given to ensure that every farm in County Laois which meets the criteria will be duly designated.
The matter I wish to raise also relates to the disadvantged areas. I have before me a copy of the Government's submission for County Limerick which has been forwarded to the European Community. That document states that 90 per cent of the Government's national submission was acceptable while the remaining 10 per cent was still being negotiated. I have been told by knowledgeable Fianna Fáil sources in my constituency that some of the townlands listed in the submission have been deleted while others have been slipped in. I doubt very much if this is true and the rumour is probably without foundation and I seek clarification from the Minister on this. While many of these townlands feel aggrieved they anticipate that they will have the right to appeal. I hope there will be no sleight-of-hand activity in this matter.
The matter I wish to raise relates to the importation of second hand cars and, in particular, the effect this has on employment and the availability of apprenticeships. Up to September 1990 approximately 16,000 second hand cars had been imported and this represented an increase of a multiple of four or five on the previous year. This had the effect of destabilising the market which was obvious from the number of second hand cars which remained unsold in garages. As a consequence, the value of "tradeing" has slumped which, in turn, will affect the sale of new cars. What I am concerned about is the level of employment and the availability of apprenticeships in garages and places where cars are sold. Would the Minister agree that there is a difficulty and, second, has he any proposals to stabilise the market?
The Ministers of State directly involved have some five minutes between them to reply and they may utilise that time as they think appropriate.
On the question of the import of second hand cars which was raised by Deputy Cotter, I would first make the point that cars are no longer assembled or manufactured in Ireland. All cars sold on the Irish market have to be imported whether as new cars or as second hand cars. Our membership of the European Community prevents us from imposing import restrictions on cars from within the Community while our participation as a member of GATT precludes us from imposing new import restrictions on cars from countries such as Japan whether the cars are new or second hand.
It is not clear to me why the import of second hand cars should have any impact on the overall level of employment within the motor trade whether in general or as regards apprenticeships. As the House is aware, I have no responsibility for the level of apprenticeships available in any sector. This is a matter for the Minister for Labour. However, I have responsibility not only for our international trade but also for the consumer. It seems clear that the import of second hand cars gives the consumer an added choice and increased competition within the motor trade must be in his best interests.
Let me say in response to Deputy Creed that he will appreciate it is essential to exercise economies in travelling expenses as well as other administrative costs. However, I can assure him that with efficient management of resources all necessary inspections will be carried out.
In relation to the matter raised by Deputy Nealon, I should like to say that this time last year, at the end of February 1990, payments totalling some £87 million had been made to 173,500 beneficiaries under all the 1989 cattle and sheep headage and premium schemes. As of today's date, payments totalling £168 million have been made to some 248,700 beneficiaries under all the 1990 cattle and sheep headage and premium schemes. I hope there will be a significant improvement in these figures by the end of the month. With 75,000 more payments made and £81 million more paid now than at the corresponding date last year it seems that there has been a substantial improvement in the speed of making payments as between these two years. I can assure the Deputy that I will do everything in my power to have all remaining payments made as soon as possible to sustain this dramatic level of improvement.
As Deputy Nealon is aware, a special scheme providing grants of up to 55 per cent for the control of farm yard pollution was introduced for the disadvantaged areas in 1988 and was extended to the whole country in August 1989. The demand for grants under this scheme has been exceptionally high and to date some 28,000 applications have been received. Considerable progress has been made in the processing of these applications. So far 21,000 approvals have been issued representing an investment of £173 million. The remaining applications are being dealt with as quickly as possible. On average, grants are paid within four to six weeks of the completion of the works. To date they have been paid in 9,500 cases totalling almost £38 million. All in all I am satisfied that this scheme for the control of farm yard pollution is being effectively operated by the Department and that there are no undue delays in the payment of grants. There is, therefore, no substance in the allegation made by the Deputy.
Deputy Hogan raised the question of delays in special beef premium and suckler cow scheme payments. The position is that at the end of February 1990 57,200 applicants under the 1989 schemes had been paid £21 million in grants whereas, as of today's date, some 91,100 applicants under the 1990 scheme have been paid £38.7 million. Again, it seems that with 34,000 extra applicants paid and almost £18 million extra over and above the numbers and amount paid at the corresponding date last year there has been a considerable speeding up of payments under these schemes during the past two years. I want to assure the Deputy that I will seek to ensure all remaining payments under these schemes are made as early as possible.
On the question of the Common Agricultural Policy regime raised by Deputy Cotter, while there has been some media speculation and rumours about possible cuts in milk quotas no proposals have emerged from the European Commission in this area. Accordingly, it would not be appropriate for me to make any comments on this matter at this stage.
On the question of the Laois disadvantaged areas survey which was raised by Deputy Flanagan, I am aware that some farmers in County Laois are unhappy because certain areas were not visited during the course of last year's nationwide survey of the disadvantaged areas or because, after being surveyed, their areas were not included in the submission made to the European Community in 1990. I can, of course, understand and sympathise greatly with their unhappiness but, under the usual rules of confidentiality, I cannot disclose which areas of County Laois were or were not submitted to the European Community——
The Minister of State must be joking; the dogs in the street are barking.
——and for that reason I cannot go into detail about any areas in that county.
This is outrageous.
I should say, however, that it is our intention, with the agreement of the European Community, to introduce an appeal system——
When?
——so as to allow all areas which meet the criteria, and this is important, to be added to the disadvantaged areas. I assure Deputy Flanagan that any appeals received from County Laois will be carefully and sympathetically considered by the appeals body to be set up and will be adjudicated on their merits.
Deputy Finucane also raised a question on the submission on disadvantaged areas. The European Commission is concluding its examination of our proposals and the consultations we have had with it have been very satisfactory. It would be inappropriate for me to make any statement of the kind requested until the Commission has finalised its proposals for the Council.
The Dáil adjourned at 11.10 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 14 February 1991.