I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this matter on the Adjournment. Given the number of Deputies who wished to raise other matters, this is an indication that even his office recognises the substantial difficulties caused by the BSE crisis. When the Minister of State, Deputy Deenihan, played football he was very versatile. He is being called on to display that versatility again tonight — he is playing full back, midfield and full forward, a one man team. When the Minister of State is wheeled out to reply to issues the news is normally bad. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry is away at present and I wonder how effective he will be.
The outcome of the BSE crisis, which began on 20 March last with the now infamous House of Commons announcement, is that Irish beef farmers who have suffered losses of the order of £260 million are being offered compensation by the EU of 25p in the pound. By any standard, this represents a colossal political failure by the Minister, Deputy Yates. The negotiations in Luxembourg today about the premia Ireland will be paid is, to put the issue in perspective, like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. It is outrageous that Ireland, the most beef dependent EU economy, could not have its concerns addressed at EU level between 20 March and 21 June when the Florence Summit eventually solved the British impasse. The compensation package is finally being discussed in Luxembourg but the offer is derisory.
I understand that, contrary to explicit assurances given by the Minister in the Dáil, the compensation package will be paid on 1996 applications, not on 1995 applications. Payments will not be made until 1997. Will the Minister clarify this point? If this is the case it is totally unacceptable and makes a joke of the already small sum on offer. Like other Deputies and farmers, I am very conscious that not one penny has yet been paid to farmers under the great sheep deal which was to be delivered in January by the Minister. If the Minister does not answer my question it will be totally unacceptable.
A sum of £8 million of the package on offer has been earmarked as discretionary. If the farmers who have suffered most are to be compensated at all then that sum must be increased. Further compensation must be targeted not simply at those who lost most money per se but rather at those small farmers who now find themselves with a negative income. One of the most effective ways of doing so is to compensate heifer beef producers; most compensation must go to farmers who have beef production as their main enterprise.
What must be avoided is a rerun of the temporary milk leasing fiasco when a deal was done among the big players to the exclusion of small producers. Fianna Fáil can honestly claim to be one of the few parties lobbying for the small farmer. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry certainly is not and few of his friends within the agricultural establishment seem interested.
Compensation, to be effective, must be paid on 1995 premia applications and targeted rigorously at those farmers most dependent on beef production for the greater part, if not all, of their income.
Last autumn the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry sat idly by while export refunds for beef were being slashed relentlessly, repeatedly assuring Irish farmers that, as a result, the price paid to them would not suffer. It must be remembered that, ever before the beef industry was floored by the BSE crisis, it was already on its knees because of cuts in export refunds. With exports within the EU remaining down by 45 per cent, the issues of live exports and export refunds remain vital. Export refunds must be placed at the top of the EU agenda in Luxembourg.
It is also vital to our beef farmers that Middle Eastern markets be reopened. If the Minister fails to secure significant trade there in the near future, next autumn farmers will face a 1974 scenario. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry may be too young to remember 1974. However, no farmer can forget the disaster which forced many of them to give away calves at marts because buyers could not be found at any price. Farmers are rightly angry that the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry is not using his muscle within Europe. His ineffectiveness is exacerbated by the inactivity of the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs. Although two Government jets are fully operational no Government Minister can find time to visit any of our crucial Middle Eastern markets. Fianna Fáil has made countless calls on the Government to launch an initiative at senior ministerial level for the reopening of those markets.
It is time this rainbow coalition Government got over its grudge match with the beef industry which is our largest. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry cannot deliver, the Labour Party is not bothered and Democratic Left is opposed: farm families are paying the price for Government disinterest and inaction.
