Vol. 264 No. 3
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries if he will make a statement in regard to a meeting held in Brussels on 20th November 1972 in relation to the fixing of farm prices; and in what way he expects the results of this meeting to result in higher incomes and profits for Irish farmers.
44.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries if he will make a statement on his participation in the EEC Council of Ministers' meeting on 20th and 21st November.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 68 and 69 together.
The meeting on 21st November of the Agricultural Ministers of the present six member States and the three acceding States was devoted primarily to consideration of the transitional arrangements for dairy products and sugar.
Agreement was reached on the intervention prices to apply to butter and skim milk powder in the three acceding States as well as on the compensatory amounts to apply to trade in other dairy products such as cheese, whole milk powder, cream, etc.
The intervention prices agreed upon for Ireland from 1st February next are equivalent to about £710 per ton for butter and about £228 per ton for skim milk powder. Taken together, these should ensure a return to our milk producers somewhat better than at present. The compensatory amount on butter exports to Britain will be about £362 per ton but this will, of course, be phased out over the transitional period according as the intervention price in Britain is raised to the Community level. The intervention price here for skim milk powder will be at the full Community level and our present support for liquid skim milk will also be increased accordingly.
The compensatory amounts for cheese, and other manufactured products will be based on that for butter. The compensatory amount on cream is determined separately and will be roughly the same as our present export support.
The Community regulations on these dairy products matters will not be made until two remaining issues have been settled, namely, the arrangements for the purchase of salted butter under intervention and for imports of New Zealand butter and cheese into Britain. Precise details of the prices, compensatory amounts et cetera will then be announced but my Department will be in contact with the industry about them in the meantime.
As regards sugar, it was agreed that in our case the intervention price for white sugar and the minimum price for sugar beet should be at the full Community levels from 1st February. The corresponding prices in the UK have not yet been settled finally but they are likely to be somewhat lower and this would mean that an export subsidy from Community funds would be payable on our exports of sugar and sugar-containing goods to the UK during the transitional period. Some remaining points on sugar that mainly concern the UK are to be taken up again at the next ministerial meeting.
The Ministers also agreed that until 31st January frozen beef from outside the Community will be exempted from any levies that might technically become applicable to it following the recent reduction in import duty. Agreement was also reached on a few residual points in connection with the proposed new regulations on fruit and vegetables. These proposed regulations had already been considered by the nine Ministers at Luxembourg on 31st October and were referred to in my reply to a question on 9th November.
At the meeting on 21st November the Community also proposed new veterinary directives on trade in fresh meat between member countries and on trade in live animals and fresh meat with third countries. These included derogations for Ireland on the lines of the derogations from existing directives secured in the Accession Treaty. The terms of the new directives are to be studied further.
Has the Minister any information which could be helpful to Irish farmers in relation to the costs of increased production in the other countries in comparison with ours, having regard to the increase in the cost of fertilisers, rates, taxes and other expenses? Have these risen in other countries of the Common Market to the same extent as here, and will the margin of profit of our farmers in the coming season, offset these increased costs?
It is a totally different question, Sir. It is statistical in nature and these statistics the Deputy is talking about are readily available.
Could the Minister state the position in relation to imported frozen beef after 1st February?
There will have to be further meetings about this.
Would the Minister make representations to ensure that any beef imported into the EEC from outside countries will carry import duty?
This would have to be considered in the context——
Would the Minister not agree that unless outside countries pay import duties we are giving away the advantage of membership?
The Deputy does not have to point that out. We are sellers of beef, and since we are, obviously, the less frozen beef that comes from third countries the better.
