I am very glad to have the opportunity of contributing to this vital debate. There is no doubt that the proposed reform of the CAP and the current GATT negotiations are a major event in the agricultural calendar. The matters involved will take up most of the time of the Government and the Department of Agriculture and Food for the reminder of this year. It is vital to have this debate because the outcome in both cases will significantly influence the direction which agriculture and the whole economy will take in the next couple of years.
As the Minister informed the House earlier, the Commission yesterday finalised the Common Agricultural Policy reform proposals and the real debate on the vital issue for Ireland is about to start. I should like to think that the real fight will be in Europe by the Government and the Department at the Council of Ministers in association with farming organisations and of partners under the social and economic programme.
The most discerning aspect of the proposals is that they rely almost exclusively on the cereal and livestock sectors to effect reform. Of course, those are the areas of activity that are the most important in Irish agriculture. The Government will, of course, have to study the proposals in all their detail, including the compensatory and structural elements, before arriving at a definitive position. As I said, and I give an undertaking to the House, in all of this we will be maintaining close and regular contact with all of the appropriate interests, farming organisations and social partners so that our approach will be fully informed and balanced, taking account of the requirements of the agriculture and food sectors and, indeed, the entire economy.
Any adjustments to existing market mechanisms must be limited to what is strictly warranted by market or budgetary requirements, and any change in policy must continue to respect the provisions of the Treaty of Rome, the principles of the Common Agricultural Policy and, in particular, Community preference. Ireland's vital agricultural interests will have to be appreciated by the other Community countries and the Commission. The Government will have to insist on the fullest safeguards being provided for the future of all categories of Irish farmers. Those will be the underlying principles of Ireland's negotiating stand.
We will insist on a Community policy on agriculture which will respect and safeguard the vital national interests of agriculture and the entire economy. I do not intend to spell that out in any more detail now, because that has been done already by the Minister and by each of the contributors to the debate from the other parties. I see no difficulty in there being a combined and completely unified approach to this absolutely crucial matter.
As well as the proposed reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, the present GATT round of negotiations is gathering momentum. It is vital that both the Common Agricultural Policy reform proposals and the GATT round be taken in tandem and that the Irish position be maintained, that because we are so dependent on agriculture and food any measures that would negatively affect that industry would have far-reaching repercussions for our entire economy.
I am glad there is now growing acceptance by the participants in the GATT round that the Community will not tolerate the singling out of agriculture for particular attention, because this is most important for Ireland. At the same time, demands continue to be made for further Community concessions on agriculture. Obviously we need to maintain the stoutest fight there to safeguard and protect our interests.
To reiterate the position, our principal objective must be to ensure that the GATT round outcome does not undermine the Common Agricultural Policy, to that end we have been insisting, and will continue to do so, that any commitments should be coherent and consistent with the basic principles of the Common Agricultural Policy. That will underline our position in relation to both areas of negotiation, the GATT round and the Common Agricultural Policy.
It will, of course, also be necessary to ensure that the reforms which will ultimately be agreed and the changes emanating from the GATT round will not militate against the continued development of a competitive and modern agri-food industry. Such a modern industry will be essential if we are to move to greater market orientation — an inevitable consequence of both Common Agricultural Policy reform and the GATT negotiations. As Minister with special responsibility for the food industry, I have particular interest in the implications of CAP reform and the GATT negotiations for the area.
The Government attach the utmost importance to the development of the agri-food industry, and Government policy throughout the past number of years has been clearly directed towards investment and restoring confidence in the food industry. The fact that £117 million has been directly invested in the food industry since 1987 is an indication of the enormous potential that the Government sees in the proper development of this industry.
The present position regarding CAP and the GATT negotiations is that proposals are on the table and the serious negotiation is about to commence. I would assume that those negotiations will continue for a number of months and that it will probably be towards the end of the year before any agreement is reached.
There is a tough, tenacious and determined fight to be carried out in Brussels. I am certain that with the co-operation of all interested parties the importance of agriculture to Ireland will be recognised and there will not be a negative outcome to these negotiations that would seriously affect the development of our most important industry.
The industry, of course, must gear itself to meet the challenges of the marketplace. The Government have been saying — and I have been saying personally for several years now — that it is all very well to call on the Government to do various things, but the industry itself has several actions to take in the whole agriculture and food area. It will certainly have to move away from the idea of using intervention as a permanent outlet for production. The Government keep on saying that and we will continue to say it because it is a fact of life.
Dairying is the cornerstone of the agricultural industry. Again, dairy farmers have faced a severe decline in income in the past year and a half or so. It is appropriate now that the industry be examined in the context of the negotiations. Our marketeers will just have to take a lead from the better aspects of the marketing of agricultural products and try to emulate our most successful ventures. For example, Ireland has been most successful in the marketing of Kerrygold butter on the German market. If that case study were to be taken out, read and reread, studied and restudied and used as a model by other marketeers they would find out how that operation succeeded and premium return farmers received. Anyone who has attended the Anuga food fairs or the Berlin Green Week would have noted that the dominant dairy product on the supermarket shelves was Irish butter. Not only that but they would also have noted that it was the dominant product carrying a major premium in its price, sometimes up to about 30 per cent. The best of marketing skills have been illustrated in that operation and I certainly recommend that our food industry marketeers in general study that operation. Good marketing operations certainly make a great deal more sense than the loading of tonnes of butter or skim milkpowder on to articulated trucks bound for intervention storage. That makes no sense at all. It is even more ridiculous now in the context of these reforms and in the context of 1992. It is time for the industry to confront that problem.
The future prosperity of the whole agricultural industry will undoubtedly be under threat if heavy dependence on intervention continues. The key factor in the strategy for the successful expansion of the agricultural industry is the development of quality food and beverage products, the importance of which I have continually emphasised. This is because I am convinced that attention to quality is absolutely essential to succeed in the intensely competitive international market. It is no use saying that we have the greenest island in Europe, that we have environmental attributes that are comparable with any other country or that we are the greatest. Consumers will judge whether or not we are the greatest based on the quality and competitiveness of price at which we can make our products available. There is no other way.
From the farm to the palate we must ensure that our products not alone meet the minimum requirements for food safety and health but we must assure our customers, the market place and our supermarkets, that in relation to health, safety and quality, in relation to the absence of any kind of deleterious material whether it is angel dust, additives or preservatives, Irish food products measure up to what we claim for them. This new culture of quality has to permeate the entire industry, the co-operatives, the farmers, the factories and the semi-State bodies.
When I was appointed Minister not one food firm here measured up to international quality standards. Now 31 firms, with 20 further firms pending, have attained that standard. Additionally, 70 Irish companies have attained the quality mark operated by the Irish Quality Association. Again, in recent times CBF have been to the forefront in their quality assurance programmes in relation to pig meat and pork. Only a week ago a quality assurance scheme was initiated and launched by Minister O'Kennedy in the beef area.
I am encouraged by those developments because there has been a great deal of taxpayers' and FEOGA investment in state of the art factories and equipment. We have excellent graduates throughout the industry. We have very important marketing programmes and European orientation programmes. I regularly meet young Irish graduates on the Continent who are doing post graduate work in marketing. There is in place the potential, as never before, to exploit our agriculture industry. If we do it right and take it seriously I have no doubt we will succeed.
However, we must have the climate and the environment right. That is why the proposals regarding the reform of the CAP and the GATT round are so worrying and why we are extremely concerned about them. There is no use in Irish farmers working themselves to the bone if they have not the opportunity to market their produce on the shelves in the European Community. There is no use in being told that there is a market of 350 million people if we have not a chance of producing for it. If we have not this Community preference, this cornerstone of the CAP and the Treaty of Rome, we will get nowhere. In a nutshell, what we are looking for is the opportunity to be the best in Europe. We must ensure that the negotiations on the CAP and the GATT round do not result in agreements which in any way interfere with the proper development of our farming and food industry.
As the Minister said, we are satisfied that, with a unified approach by farming organisations, and by all sectors in Ireland, behind the Government's stand, there will be a satisfactory outcome to these negotiations. If this occurs Ireland can proceed to capitalise on our undoubted advantages in food production and processing and become the quality supplier of European food. Provided we gear ourselves properly and have the proper mental approach to farming, processing, marketing and promotion we can and will succeed in this task.
