Vol. 435 No. 1
10 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the progress that has been made to date with regard to the implementation of the report of the Expert Group on the Food Industry; if he has yet submitted his proposals to Government arising from the report; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The Government accepted the broad thrust of the report of the Expert Group on the Food Industry in July. As a result I was authorised to draft the legislation to set up An Bord Bia and draw up a new national programme for the food industry covering investment aid, marketing and promotion, aid for research and development and training.
The legislation to establish An Bord Bia is presently being drafted and will be presented to the House at the earliest possible opportunity. The new national food programme has been included in the National Development Plan.
Would the Minister acknowledge that there is considerable concern about the fact that the development of the food industry is to be the responsibility of the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, that inevitably this will mean that it will be producer/farmer driven rather than market driven and that if this continues to be the case it will never realise its full potential? Will the Minister accept that it would be of value both to the food industry, to the potential jobs that can be created and to the Irish nation as a whole if he would release An Bord Bia from his clutches and let it remain within the ambit of the industrial and trade area where it belongs?
Second, would the Minister agree that there is a danger of fragmentation if we establish another body to deal with the whole development of our exports when we have an organisation to do this, namely, An Bord Tráchtála? Will this not result in unnecessary duplication and a failure to realise the potential of the food industry?
The Deputy wants to go back to democratic centralism.
The Deputy's party is trying to get rid of democratic centralism at the moment. We got rid of it a long time ago.
The establishment of An Bord Bia was recommended by the Expert Group on the Food Industry which included experts from all areas of that industry. However, there was one dissenting voice and a minority report was presented. The Government has decided that the responsibility for An Bord Bia rests with the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry. The debate on that issue is over.
In regard to the point raised by the Deputy that we have an organisation promoting the food industry, it is true to say that An Bord Tráchtála has food functions but there are other bodies also who carry out such functions, in particular CBF. In regard to the Deputy's other point that An Bord Bia is producer driven, the board deals solely with exports. That is the brief of the board. The whole emphasis in the expert group's report is on the consumer, consumer demands and the thrust of production being consumer driven. The point the Deputy made is inaccurate and she should read the report of the food group.
The Deputy referred to fragmentation in relation to our export drive. The whole thrust of An Bord Bia is to streamline what is taking place, bring the various elements together and give better value to the taxpayer in terms of the promotion of our Irish product and of assisting the food companies to launch their products or to continue to promote and market those products on the European market and further afield.
A Leas-Cheann Comhairle, did you take Question No. 21 with this question?
No, Deputy.
That is a pity.
Would the Minister agree that the proposed system of organisation for An Bord Bia in fact rationalises the structures that are there currently in relation to agricultural exports? Would he further agree that it would have been a dreadful tragedy if An Bord Bia had been gobbled up into the maw of the three new quangos that have been proposed for the industrial sector? Would he agree that it is astonishing to find this most unholy alliance of the "Democratic Leftovers" and Senator Feargal Quinn?
The Government took the correct decision in endorsing the recommendation of the Expert Group on the Food Industry. The Deputy used the word "rationalise", and I accept that to mean bringing the various marketing elements together and obtaining the best possible result for producers and for the food processing industry. The other matters are ones for decision by Government but the question relates specifically to An Bord Bia. I am glad there is support on the Opposition side for the whole concept. We are moving as quickly as possible to put this board in place and assist the industry in selling more of its product, thereby creating further employment in the food industry, which is the concern of Deputy McManus also.
The Minister should ensure it is kept out of Deputy Ruairí Quinn's hands. He should not be let near it.
Within the context of what I call the "womb to tomb" operation, that the whole system is integrated from the producer right up to the supermarket shelf, will the Minister explain where CBF comes into An Bord Bia? What role will CBF have in this regard and, more particularly, will the expertise it has in overseas trading be integrated into the new board? What will be the staffing arrangement?
Legislation is in the course of preparation and I cannot be specific in my reply to the Deputy's question. However, in the time I have been in office I have come to admire greatly the work being done by CBF. Obviously, CBF's role in regard to An Bord Bia will be in the context of augmenting that work.
Will the Minister sideline CBF?
There is no question of that. Indeed, beef marketing must be enhanced. We are talking about a pooling of resources to obtain a better effect and the role of CBF will be stronger in the context of An Bord Bia.
It is good to hear that.
In his response the Minister stated that the industry was very much consumer driven. It must be a bitter disappointment for the Minister that a person who produced a minority report has probably the greatest appreciation of consumers than many other people on the committee. It is an indictment of An Bord Bia that a minority report was produced by a person who would be very much consumer driven.
I would defend the right of any individual to seek to have a minority report published. If someone felt strongly enough about an issue to publish a minority report so be it. However, the bottom line is that the consumer driven aspect obviously is focused to a great extent on a European market where we must now look in terms of our commodities and the results of CAP reform where intervention as a market mechanism will no longer be as easily available as it has been.
Therefore, our thrust must be towards many more value-added products. An Bord Bia has a huge role to play in launching those and placing them strongly on the market.
The Minister stated that the expert group represented all interests. For the record I wish to state that consumers were not represented on that expert group. Indeed, Feargal Quinn took on that role. That may shock Deputy Dukes who seems to have a very primitive view of my party——
A supplementary question please, Deputy.
——but the expert group was lacking in that key area. I suggest to the Minister of State that it would be at his peril to disregard the case made in the minority report with regard to the future development of the food industry. I remind him that, while that debate may have concluded within the Government, certainly it has not concluded outside the Government. Would he not accept that the policy pursued by the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry has led to huge accumulations of basic commodities in cold storage while, at the same time, we have an under-developed food industry that could have created badly needed jobs? If the Government insists on pursuing this course of action, does the Minister of State not recognise that that will be the future of the food industry as well?
Members of the Expert Group on the Food Industry were consumers also and essentially were nominated because of their particular expertise within the context of greater job creation throughout the food industry generally. I do not accept the Deputy's criticisms of the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, who worked within the marketing mechanisms available within the European Community. Obviously, while companies and firms were taking commercial decisions on how they would dispose of products, the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry was implementing the schemes provided by the EC. I suggest that all Members of this House support An Bord Bia in the very important work it will be undertaking in the not too distant future.
I want to raise with the Minister of State the matter of finance for An Bord Bia. I happen to have served on the board of Córas Beostoc agus Feola for seven years and remember an occasion when the then Minister halved their budget within one year, causing them major problems. I am glad to note that CBF will become a major part of An Bord Bia and will have a major role to play within that board. Will the Minister of State say whether the recent fiasco visà-vis the funding of the National Development Plan will have any effect on the long term finances of An Bord Bia?
I am confident that the overall operational programme within the context of the food industry will be implemented in full.
That concludes Question Time for today.
