I wish to thank you for the opportunity to raise this matter, which is a very urgent one. It is very urgent because there are 45 growers in the north east in my own region who would produce approximately 500 tonnes of fruit, valued well in excess of £300,000 this year. However, at this moment they have no market for their produce.
Lairds of Drumshanbo started making jam some time around 1934. They did it successfully for many years. In 1989 Food Industries bought the plant and it became a Greencore company later, following a takeover. Greencore decided that the business was of no interest to them and it was put into liquidation. The assets of Laird Foods Limited were bought over in December 1991 by a new company set up specifically for that purpose, a company called Leitrim Preserves Limited.
It is imperative that this new company get support from all Government agencies so that processing will begin as soon as possible. I was heartened to learn that the IDA are taking a positive approach, that Leitrim County Council will also facilitate with any planning permission that is required and, barring an unforeseen hitch, the factory should be operational again in the autumn. However, my primary concern is for the growers. I am disappointed that Greencore decided not to keep the plant going. By putting the company, Laird Foods as it was known at the time, into liquidation Greencore effectively tore up an agreement with the producers, producers who were induced by Teagasc in the first place to grow fruit for this factory. I understand further that some growers have not yet been paid for their 1991 produce.
I want the Minister to take an interest in this and to ensure that they are paid in full. I also want An Bord Glas, who have a responsibility in this area, to find a market for the 1992 crop, which will be coming on stream before the factory can reopen again. I want the Minister to take a specific interest in that matter.
Finally, the producers must be protected by being given a contract for the supply of food to the new company. That is not obviously an easy matter to resolve but it must be resolved. Fruit growing is an important alternative enterprise in the northern counties of the State. Whereas I am talking about the north east there is probably more fruit from the north-west — I am not privy to the figures that are involved in that area. Unless the growers are now treated properly this alternative enterprise will certainly be destroyed and, as we know, when that happens once it is virtually impossible to get people to grow fruit again. That would be desperately sad. I am asking the Minister now to ensure that this whole messy business is tidied up once and for all.
