asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries the findings, if any, he has received from the inquiry group set up to investigate the distribution of beef intervention money; and if he will make a statement on the future policy of the intervention system as applied in this country.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Beef Intervention System.
25.
While the review body has made certain interim recommendations, it has not yet submitted a final report. The interim recommendations are being examined by my Department and the review body itself is giving further consideration to the manner in which they might be implemented.
As regards the future operation of the intervention system the aim will continue to be to seek to have the benefits of the system distributed as equitably as possible among producers generally.
In the interim report which has been submitted is there any indication of an effort being made to distribute intervention money more evenly over all sections, so that in case of a glut in one type of cattle or another there could be a kind of float between itself and the slaughter premium?
That is an extremely difficult problem.
It is not.
We have enough experts in this group to seek solutions, and I can assure the Deputy they are not finding it easy to make recommendations that can be implemented without excessive cost. There is no country in Europe that has found a way to ensure that at every point in the production line people will get a reasonable return for their labours.
When a particular type of cattle is going for £X per hundredweight and another type is going away below that, there should be some way of diverting the slaughter premium towards this type of cattle. It would not be all that difficult to do that, but when you ask about these things you are told it is "administratively impossible", famous words in the Department.