asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries if he intends to seek amendments in the EEC Commission's proposal for a regulation on the transitional common organisation of the market in sheepmeat; and, if so, if he will give particulars of these amendments.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Sheepmeat Market.
35.
I am not at all satisfied with the Commission's proposal but I am not prepared to indicate in advance the precise lines I shall follow in the Council's discussions on it.
While I appreciate the Minister's reticence, could I ask him if he would take kindly to the suggestion that there should be an intervention system in this sheepmeat market just as there are market supports for other produce?
I can assure the Deputy that I have all these points in mind but I can see very little prospect of getting it into intervention because it is very much a deficit product in the Community.
Does the Minister not accept that, given Protocol 19 arrangements under which the UK is permitted to bring in upwards of 200,000 tons of sheepmeat every year, in that context there is no great deficiency, leaving aside live sheep imports from Eastern European countries?
The Deputy is aware that it requires the consent of all member States to get a directive through.