I am grateful to the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise the question of the forfeiture or otherwise of bonds given by beef processing companies in Ireland to the value of £30 million. Under the regulations the decision on forfeiture or release of these bonds, which relate to export refunds, should be made by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry. I was very surprised, therefore, when in October last year we were informed that the Government had decided that of the remaining £30 million in bonds and guarantees, £7 million would be forfeited, £17 million would be released and £6 million would be left in abeyance as that amount was stated to be in doubt. That decision was made on 17 October 1995, but almost exactly one year later it has not been implemented.
It was reported last Sunday in The Sunday Tribune that the Government was looking again at the question of the release of the £17 million in bonds because of statements about irregularities by the company concerned which were made by two former employees — it appears those two men were former employees of Goodman International.
I made a statement about this matter on 19 October last when I said that it seemed there was an element of "deal" or arrangement between the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry and Goodman International whereby it would forfeit only £7 million worth of guarantees and release the remainder. The Department has not delivered on its deal, presumably because of the public-spirited act of the two former employees in giving it information in writing about breaches of regulations in export refunds. Presumably the Department recommended to the Government a year ago the release of these moneys, but it has refused to act on that recommendation, and it is to the credit of the Government collectively that that is so. The question arises as to why the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry wanted those moneys released when it was well known that there were widespread abuses.
The recently published report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on the appropriate accounts for 1995 shows in paragraphs 37 and 39 that there were disallowances by the European Commission in respect of beef export refunds amounting to some £2,783,221 and £1,552,544. These were disallowed against the Irish Exchequer because the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry wrongly released bonds and guarantees to the company. That disallowance against the Irish Exchequer was in respect of the clearance of the 1991 accounts.
The £30 million still held by the Department relates to export refunds in the years 1987-89 when the activity of the Goodman company in Iraq was at its height. Even though the Government decision of 17 October last was to the effect that a figure of £7 million would be forfeit that, apparently, has not yet happened. The public is entitled to know why.
What has happened in relation to this £30 million worth of bonds and to the sum of approximately £4.3 million reported by the Comptroller and Auditor General conclusively proves that the finding of the beef tribunal at page 566, "that there was no abuse of the export refund subsidy regulations in respect of the export of intervention beef to Iraq", is clearly incorrect. That finding was based on evidence given by officials in the Department supported by people from Goodman International.
The Department has a great deal to answer which it consistently tries to avoid. The fact that it was prepared to do a deal of the kind described as recently as last year with the Goodman organisation should be a matter of great concern to everybody.
It should be remembered that the loser in the long run from all of this is the Irish taxpayer who has to pick up the tab for the failures of the Department to penalise malpractices and fraud in the beef export refund scheme as well as the beef intervention scheme where the Irish taxpayer has already been fined a sum in excess of £70 million. How long are we supposed to tolerate this type of activity from the Department? How much longer does the Minister intend to stand over the close relationship between certain elements in his Department and the firm owned by a man about whom he said he would shed no tears if he departed from the Irish beef scene in the morning?
I call on the Minister to give a full explanation of all these matters and full disclosure of all the relevant facts in terms of the relationship of his Department with Goodman International over many years, facts which have been concealed successfully from the public view for a long time. Will he tell us if the new accounting officer of FEOGA funds has yet been appointed?
