Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 8 May 2003

Vol. 566 No. 2

Adjournment Debate. - Veterinary Inspections.

Mr. Naughten:

I thank the Chair for giving me the opportunity to raise this important issue on the Adjournment this afternoon.

I wish to look for a moment at the record of the Minister for Agriculture and Food since his return to office. The latest CSO figures show that aggregate farm income dropped by 9% in 2002. Industrial action in the district livestock offices is delaying premium payments and the disposal and sale of animals. The cut of €14 million in the budget of Teagasc has resulted in the closure of facilities across the country. Disease levies have been doubled and roll-over tax relief has been abolished. Support for the rendering of meat and bonemeal has been withdrawn and new proposals for the disposal of such meal have not been brought forward to date.

As cattle prices are now coming under pressure, I am calling on the Minister, Deputy Walsh, to withdraw immediately the 20% cut in the meat inspection budget, which will be used and abused by the meat factories to pull back the prices paid to farmers. Attempts by the factories to lower quotes this week on the back of the meat inspection row have already been noted. The decision by the Department of Agriculture and Food and the Minister to cut the meat inspection budget and the time allocations is being dumped back on the farmers by the factories. Meat plants and abattoirs have been told by the Department to reduce the number of days for killing due to the reduced budget for veterinary inspection work. Some factories are killing only three days this week as opposed to their usual five days due to the lack of veterinary cover available from the Department. Plants cannot survive on three days. One small abattoir has been told it can operate for only two days this week, instead of five, and has been given no indication how many days it will be able to kill in the following week.

The only solution the Minister has brought forward is that shifts and days can be borrowed from the allocation for later in the year. However, that is only to postpone the situation and, of course, by doing that the small export plants and the major factories are committing themselves to the 20% cuts. Some factories have already issued protective notice and, unless this problem is sorted out quickly, jobs will be lost. Factories and abattoirs have been told by the Department to cut the number of days because there is not enough veterinary cover available. Slaughtering cannot proceed without that cover.

The decision by the Department of Agriculture and Food to reduce the level of veterinary inspections will have a major economic impact on farmers and will further promote the use of third country beef. I call on the Minister to immediately rescind his decision. Not only will this see the price of animals forced down in the short-term but it could also seriously hit the demand for Irish produce on home and export markets with serious long-term consequences. Third country beef already has a foothold in the Irish food chain and this reduction in killing output could further promote such beef if Irish produce is left in short supply.

This situation is contrary to the stated policy of the Minister who claimed that he wanted to see Irish produce gain a stronger foothold on foreign markets. We cannot even maintain supply within our own market. The Minister's decision will have a serious long-term impact on exports and supplies of meat to the retail business and supermarkets. Unless the Minister provides the extra funding required for the service or knocks out an agreement with the vets for a more flexible work practice approach, the number of days will be cut and the kill in Ireland in the current year will be cut by 20%. This would surrender more of our domestic market to foreign imported pigmeat and beef.

Small export plants will be the hardest hit by this decision because they will lose both markets and jobs. The only solution the Minister has come up with is to borrow shifts from later in the year. That will postpone the problem, not solve it. This problem must be immediately addressed. The work practices involved in the veterinary inspection, where each shift runs for four hours with only three hours on the line, is totally unacceptable. Three four hour shifts are required to cover an eight hour working day, which is the ludicrous current situation.

This must be addressed. Funds must be put in place and negotiations must take place with the veterinary inspectors. This decision should be postponed until agreement is reached and a sol ution should not be put off by telling the plants that they can take shifts from the end of the year or the next part of the killing season. That would only increase the pressure. The Minister knows what will happen at the end of the year if shifts are removed. The number of kills would be reduced and the price of animals, particularly of cattle, would completely collapse at the end of the year.

Farmers have had a difficult year and it is difficult for them to swallow the tripe coming from Government with regard to the Department of Agriculture and Food. It is imperative that the Minister and his Department take some action to ensure that this decision is rescinded, that negotiations begin immediately with the veterinary union and that work practices are reformed so we can get back to business and allow the plants to kill beef.

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture and Food (Mr. Treacy):

By way of background to the issue before the House, I want to explain the context that has given rise to the need to control the cost of the meat inspection service provided by our Department in meat processing factories throughout the State. The meat inspection service comprises a number of distinct elements, all of which involve control of the slaughter and processing of meat products destined for the human food chain. There is a clear and important public health dimension to the work involved and the key responsibility is the need to control the food processing chain within meat plants.

Our Department provides a veterinary presence in each plant whose main role is to supervise the processing of meat in accordance with best international practice. Agricultural officers of our Department carry out certain designated functions in this respect and so too do temporary veterinary inspectors who are private veterinary practitioners assigned on a roster basis to the plants concerned. The overall cost of the meat inspection service has increased very substantially over the past five years. The bulk of this cost is funded exclusively by the Exchequer because the fees that are charged to factories are based on a fixed rate per animal slaughtered, which recovers only a portion of the total cost. Moves to full cost recovery have been considered in the recent past but were put on hold due to the market situation prevailing at the time.

The cost of the service has continued to rise, and will rise again this year on foot of negotiated wage settlements. The gap between income and expenditure has grown enormously since 1998 when income as a percentage of cost was 53%. Last year, the income ratio to cost declined to 42%. That is no longer sustainable or acceptable in the context of the current budgetary situation and is considerably out of line with other countries.

In response to this year's budget allocation, and taking account of emerging cost increases, our Department set out detailed allocations of temporary veterinary inspectors' shifts for each factory on a quarterly basis. These allocations were based on last year's figures, less 20%. In the first quarter, in order to avoid disruption in processing establishments, we agreed to allow factories to borrow forward from second quarter allocations. We recently agreed to continue this arrangement into the second quarter as a gesture to the industry in the context of on-going discussions with the industry representative bodies, the Irish Meat Association and IBEC. However, my Government colleague, the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Deputy Walsh, is determined and has made clear that the overall budget allocation for the year must be respected and that meat plants will have to plan their operations accordingly.

The reduced allocations for the year do not mean that there should necessarily be resulting restrictions in the processing of animals in meat factories but it does mean that the allocation and utilisation in full of scarce resources needs to be carefully monitored to ensure that the system is efficient and that value for money is being secured for the level of investment that is being made both by the Exchequer and the industry.

In response to the specific case raised by Deputy Naughten pertaining to a small abattoir which will only be able to kill on two days this week, I visited a small abattoir this week and the only complaint I heard was that there were too many inspectors – up to four at one time – visiting the plant. I cannot understand the problem.

Mr. Naughten:

The Minister of State should visit Togher where the staff have been put on protective notice.

Mr. Treacy:

It is a fine place and receives fine product from east Galway and Roscommon. If the Deputy has a specific problem with an abattoir, he should pass the details to me and the Department will investigate the situation.

The Department has had extensive consultations with the Irish Meat Association and IBEC with a view to arriving at a consensus on how best to implement cost savings without compromising the integrity of the meat inspection service.

Mr. Naughten:

What about the vets?

Mr. Treacy:

There is a generally held view that the current system is inefficient, that it lacks flexibility, is expensive to run and that it simply does not suit the current day needs of a modern meat-processing sector. There are elements of truth to these arguments but there is no doubt also that the meat inspection service has delivered on its prime role of protecting public health. I pay tribute to all of the staff involved in the delivery of a professional standard of service.

Nonetheless, we believe it is time to review the role of the meat inspection service and, in particular, the arrangements relating to veterinary inspections with a view to streamlining the operation and fitting the meat inspection service, as a service provider, into the operational needs of the industry. We must dove-tail the two and they must work in tandem.

Mr. Naughten:

What about talking to them? The Minister of State has not approached them.

Mr. Treacy:

Negotiations are ongoing and we hope there will be a positive effort on all sides and that the Deputy will support our efforts to ensure that common sense prevails and that there is a high standard of equitable delivery of service across the industry to take account of the farmer-producer and the demands of the marketplace. We have considered a range of valuable suggestions as to how such arrangements might be re-focused so that the service can reach higher levels of efficiency, provide greater degrees of flexibility and make maximum use of the resources available, while delivering value for money.

The time has come to face up to the reality that a root and branch reform of the service must be embarked upon. Our Department will shortly finalise its plans in this respect and will convene meetings of the main players at an early date with a view to setting this process in motion. Whatever new structure emerges from these discussions, the quality and safety of meat products will be our foremost priorities.