I move that Dáil Éireann approves the following regulations in draft:
Pigs and Bacon Act, 1935 (Part II) (No. 5) Regulations, 1976, and Agricultural Produce (Fresh Meat) Act, 1930 (Exporter's Licences) (Fees) Regulations, 1976.
The effect of the regulations before the House in draft will be to raise the level of fees payable in respect of animals presented for veterinary inspection under the Fresh Meat Acts and the Pigs and Bacon Acts. The increases will vary according to the type of animal. The fee for cattle will be increased from 5p to 45p per head and that for sheep will go up from 0.625p to 8p per head. In the case of pigs the increase will be from 1.25p for a pork pig and 2.08p for a bacon pig to a flat rate of 12p for both types.
The present rates are still at the levels fixed in 1930 and 1935 when the Acts first came into force. Over the years due to increases in salaries, inflation and the need for more intensive supervision of procedures at meat and bacon factories, the cost of veterinary supervision has risen enormously. In recent years the cost has escalated steeply and the point has now been reached where receipts from fees no longer bear any relation to the cost of providing a veterinary inspection service. The proposed increases will raise the fees to more realistic levels.
It is true that with the great development in our meat industry the volume of animals presented for veterinary inspection has increased. This has resulted in some increase in receipts but, notwithstanding this, the position in 1975 was that the cost of veterinary supervision of meat and bacon factories was about £1.6 million, whereas receipts from fees were about £100,000 only. Obviously this completely unbalanced situation cannot be allowed to continue.
At the new rates now proposed, the fees are calculated to yield about £500,000 in the current year and about £700,000 in a full year, on the basis of the present levels of slaughterings. The recovery of the full cost of veterinary supervision must be the ultimate aim, but I took the view that an immediate increase in fees to the extent necessary to equalise receipts and costs would not be warranted at this stage.
While the increases now proposed may seem fairly substantial, they should be viewed, not in relation to the existing rates of fees which were fixed some 40 or 45 years ago, but in the context of present-day livestock prices. A finished fat bullock is now worth £300 or more, and the proposed new rate of fee amounts to only 0.15 per cent of that price.
I also have in mind the amendment of existing legislation so as to enable the fees to be collected monthly instead of half-yearly, and to increase the fee for horses to the same extent as that for cattle. These changes cannot be effected by order and so I propose to introduce legislation at a later stage to enable them to be made.
Finally, I would like to make it clear that the proposed increases relate only to animals presented for slaughter at licensed meat factories and bacon factories, which are supervised by my Department. They do not apply to slaughterings at premises catering for the home market only, which are under local authority supervision. I will now ask the House to approve these draft regulations. Before I sit down I would like to say that it was brought to my attention yesterday that it was inconvenient for Deputy Gibbons to be present this morning because of a meeting of the European Parliament. I was asked could this be changed to next week or the week after. I would at all times wish to convenience Members attending the European Parliament, because on a number of occasions in this House I have spoken about the importance I attach to their work. Unfortunately, the request came too late and the Seanad is also sitting to consider the same matter, so I can do nothing about it. I regret this.
