asked the Minister for Agriculture whether his attention has been drawn to a speech made by Dr. Sicco Mansholt at an EEC Conference on Regional Economics held in Brussels last December, in which Dr. Mansholt issued a warning against what he described as the easy way out to try to solve regional problems by promoting easy forms of agricultural production, such as cereals or sugar beet, which could only be disposed of with the aid of subsidies; and whether he has any comment to make on Dr. Mansholt's opinions as expressed in this speech, and their implications with regard to the production of cereals and, in particular, sugar beet in this country, and the prospects of sugar beet production within the EEC.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - EEC Conference on Regional Economics.
6.
I am aware of the statements referred to by the Deputy. What Mr. Mansholt seems to have had in mind was the undesirability of promoting, as a means of maintaining farm incomes in less developed regions, lines of production for which these regions are not economically suitable and which can only be disposed of with the aid of State subsidies. It is not the policy of the Irish Government to encourage the production of cereals or sugar beet in areas unsuited to these crops. As regards the prospect for sugar beet production in the European Economic Community, it would not be possible for me at this stage to make any reliable forecast. This will depend on a number of factors including the Community's common policy on sugar which has not yet been formulated.