Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 23 Apr 1997

Vol. 478 No. 2

Written Answers. - Deseasonalisation Premium.

Cecilia Keaveney

Ceist:

53 Cecilia Keaveney asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry whether the deseasonalisation slaughter premium levels will be maintained at the higher rate to help farmers currently experiencing severe difficulties; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10777/97]

Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry (Mr. Yates):

The deseasonalisation premium was introduced under the CAP reform agreement of 1992 to assist in overcoming the seasonal pattern of steer slaughterings in Ireland.

As originally adopted, the EU regulation provided for a flat-rate payment on steers slaughtered between 1 January and 30 April. However, in order to avoid the bulking of slaughterings at the end of April the European Union amended the regulation from 1995 to provide for a gradual reduction in the premium over a longer period. For the first 15 weeks of the year a payment of £60.09 is made and this falls in steps of £15 each before ending on 10 June. Any postponement in the rate of reduction in the premium would require an amendment to the Council regulation and, in view of the procedure involved, such an amendment could not be achieved, certainly in the short term.

I wish to point out that when this scheme was agreed in 1992, its continuation was subject to the condition that steer slaughterings in the period 1 September to 30 November were at least 40 per cent of total steer slaughterings for the reference year. I succeeded in having this trigger level reduced from 40 per cent to 35 per cent to allow for the continuation of the scheme this year and subsequent years. This was a very important concession which is worth some £20 million to Irish producers, particularly winter finishers who slaughter cattle this spring.