I wish to raise the question of the failure of the Minister, despite his stated objective last July, to introduce a rescue package to help the vulnerable areas of the food sector which have been very much affected by the sterling exchange rate.
The food sector has struggled against the tide of international currency markets since the beginning of the year. The Minister for Agriculture, Foof and Forestry, Deputy Yates, recognised the threat to jobs in the food sector, as did the industry itself, because of the rather uncompetitive rates we have vis-à-vis sterling at the moment. He particularly singled out our convenience food sector as being at a severe disadvantage in the UK, and he stated that he was negotiating at Government level for a special package to help the sector.
These truths still hold, but the Minister's promise has not. A report issued this week by the Food, Drink and Tobacco Federation highlights the very serious consequences of the Minister's broken promises in this respect. It states that in the UK market, worth £2 billion, five times more valuable than Germany, our next largest market, we face immediate and acute competitiveness problems. Employment in both the processing and grocery sectors has been threatened, and if our UK market share is lost, the development plans of An Bord Bia and Forbairt will be largely undermined. Existing jobs will disappear and future development of the industry will be very much at risk.
We know from previous currency crises that sectors like the poultry and mushroom sectors can be very badly affected because of their almost total reliance on the UK market. In the mushroom sector, for example, Monaghan Mushrooms has about 50 per cent of the market with sales in the UK of £1 million a week. In January 1994 this company was selling into the UK at a rate of 95p to the £1 sterling. Today they are trying to compete at a rate of 102p to sterling. At a time when our inflation rate is 2.4 per cent Irish companies have endured a 7 per cent decline in competitiveness in 20 months.
Last July the Minister identified the problem, at which he was very adept, but he has not delivered on his promises. This week's report from the Food, Drink and Tobacco Federation is all the confirmation required of the Minister's inaction. The Minister has shown bad faith with thousands of workers whose jobs depend on selling into this market. This Minister can spent £1 million on many consultants in ten months in office but cannot or will not deliver on the basics. He has undermined the development of the food processing industry and is jeopardising thousands of jobs.
It is time we found out whether or not the Minister will deliver on the promises he made last July. Many sectors in the industry have been awaiting with interest the outcome of the Minister's deliberations. His promises were unqualified and definite. On a number of occasions since he came into office — it has become almost a signal of how he operates — the Minister identified problems and, having looked at the options suggested solutions quickly and expeditiously but then forgot about the problem. He certainly does not deliver on the expectations he raises in order to assuage the various lobbies. It is time we heard from the Department regarding what substance if any there is in the unqualified promises given by the Minister in the last couple of months.
