I wish to ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food if his attention has been drawn to the serious threat of sanctions being imposed by the United States Administration on the export of Irish liqueur and cheese products, and if he will give details of the steps, if any, he intends to take to counteract this serious threat to Irish exports? It is clearly evident that this is a very serious threat to the Irish dairy industry and should not be taken lightly. It is also evident that President Bush's administration seems to be intent on striking the most vulnerable section of our agricultural industry, our dairy farmers. The value of our casein exports last year to the United States was £120 million and the value of Irish liqueur exports was over £100 million.
If the United States want dialogue with their EC partners they should not proceed by wielding the big stick on the most vulnerable section of the community in the EC, Irish dairy farmers. The Americans must realise that we cannot live on fresh air and cold water. Apart from agriculture, fisheries and tourism, our three natural resources, we are not blessed with great industries. Such a threat from the great United States to one of the weakest nations in Europe is a stroke against democracy in the western civilised world. It brings home to me in no uncertain fashion the actions of our EC Commissioner when he entertained American negotiators for GATT in Dromoland Castle in the latter months of last year in red carpet fashion. He threw in the towel by offering those American tycoons a 30 per cent reduction in EC exports. It is clearly evident that the EC Commissioner should have fought more sternly on behalf of the under-privileged section of the agricultural community. I can see no reason for throwing in the towel at such an early stage of negotiations. It failed hopelessly to portray the serious impact that any reduction in agricultural exports would have for this country.
Various agreements have been made between the EC and GATT countries as a result of which our Irish farmers have suffered annihilation. I have yet to be convinced of one factory farm in Europe closing down as a result of a reduction in quotas but I have seen to my dismay thousands of Irish farmers closing their gates and giving up supplying milk because it was uneconomic. This is the straw that will break the camel's back. I hope that the Minister for Agriculture and Food will put on the boxing gloves and make sure he wins the fight against this serious American threat.
It is clearly evident that this threat was made by President Bush's administration to gain a rural vote from the mid-west farming community, but does President Bush realise that there are more than 40 million ethnic Americans in the United States, a sizeable force which could decide any future presidentail election in that country? Perhaps the Minister for Agriculture and Food, in conjunction with the Taoiseach and Minister for Foreign Affairs, would meet representatives from the Bush administration and ask them to let common sense prevail and to withdraw the serious threats to the Irish agricultural industry.