Vol. 468 No. 4
867 Mr. Martin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the steps, if any, he intends to take to prevent the relocation of the pea production unit from Universal Dehydrates in east Cork to a European location in view of the failure to change European legislation to enable the company concerned to compete on a level playing field. [15514/96]
868 Mr. Martin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if he will meet with EU Agriculture Commissioner, Mr. Franz Fischler, to achieve a change in area aid mechanisms sufficient to enable Universal Dehydrates, County Cork, to compete on a level playing field. [15515/96]
869 Mr. Martin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the reason he has not met with the Managing Director of Universal Dehydrates Food Factory based in east Cork, in view of the potential loss of jobs resulting from the failure to have peas produced for mechanical dehydration included in the area aid scheme. [15516/96]
879 Mr. E. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if his attention has been drawn to the problem facing Universal Dehydrates in Midleton, County Cork due to a change in EU policy in July 1992, Annex 1 to Regulation (EEC) Number 1765/1992, in view of the fact that the EU Dried Management Committee decided to remove vining peas from the support arrangement which could mean that peas will have to be imported to Ireland which would be a retrograde step; if he will put a proposal to the EU Council of Agriculture Ministers to reverse the decision taken in July 1992 and consider part of the pea crop which is dehydrate eligible for EU aid under the current scheme that covers protein peas since both air dried and field dried protein peas are effectively the same end product sold as an ingredient; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15655/96]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 867, 868, 869 and 879 together.
As indicated in a reply to Parliamentary Question No. 174 of 13 June 1995, area aid under the EU arable support system is confined, in the case of peas, to those peas which are harvested in a dry state. Vining peas, which are harvested at a green stage, and which are subjected to mechanical dehydration are not eligible for area aid.
Following representations by the company concerned, I raised the matter with Commissioner Fischler, seeking inclusion of vining peas in the aid system. The Commissioner explained, in a detailed written response, the reasons why vining peas were excluded from the area aid system. These were that: as vining peas had never been covered by a previous support regime, payment of compensatory aid under CAP reform was not justified as was the case with cereals and other eligible arable crops for which previous price supports were either reduced or abolished; the inclusion of vining peas in the arable support system would create distortions in the market and had been opposed by producers in the major production regions of the EU; and the introduction of an end use obligation such as dehydration would jeopardise the protected status of arable area payments under the GATT Agreement.
