Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 5 Dec 2000

Vol. 527 No. 3

Written Answers. - Beef Development Programme.

Bernard J. Durkan

Ceist:

58 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development when he will produce a comprehensive beef development programme which will ensure a reasonable return for investment, high animal health standards and maximum consumer satisfaction in this competitive industry; if he will particularly address the issue of the current price slump and its causes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28464/00]

Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (Mr. Walsh)

The report and recommendations of the task force on the beef industry, combined with my Department's response to the Agri-Food 2000 report, provide a blue print for the development of the beef sector from primary production through to marketing. I have established a monitoring committee under the aegis of An Bord Bia to oversee the implementation of a number of these recommendations. The remaining recommendations of the beef task force are, depending on their nature, for implementation by the industry itself and by the relevant State agencies in co-operation with my Department.

As far as primary production is concerned, the major requirement is to improve the quality of cattle through better breeding and husbandry practices in order to ensure an adequate supply of high quality beef needed to meet the demanding requirements of consumers in the EU market. Teagasc and the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation have intensified their efforts in recent months to promote the development of quality breeding by producers. In addition, I have used the national envelope for 2001 in order to encourage producers to replace their breeding herd more rapidly than normal and thereby improve their breeding stock.

At the processing stage, the main issues which need to be addressed are the over-capacity in the slaughtering sector and the need to encourage the production of value added products. Under the national development plan, priority will be given to the beef sector at primary slaughtering in the context of the productive sector operational programme. This initiative, operating in partnership with the industry itself, should facilitate development and rationalisation in the beef processing industry in a planned way. In addition, under the national development plan, the investment related to the production of value added products will also be encouraged in line with consumer demand.

With regard to market promotion, responsibility for beef promotion is a matter for Bord Bia and, of course, the industry itself. Substantial resources are already available to Bord Bia for that purpose. However, given EU constraints on the promotion of Irish beef on the marketing of product on the basis of the country of origin, the promotion activities of An Bord Bia need to be supplemented by an industry funded campaign which is not subject to EU constraints. This was recognised in the context of the PDF. It was also a major recommendation of the task force and is one of those matters which the monitoring committee has been asked to implement.

Apart from these issues, a major requirement in the beef industry is to remove the distrust which exists between producers and processors and bring about a greater degree of partnership and co-operation between them. To this end, my Department has been publishing prices paid by individual meat factories since mid February. The Government also engaged an independent group to examine allegations of anti-competitive practices in the industry and the reasons for the large differentials between producer and consumer prices. The report of this group has been published. I believe that these initiatives should help to rebuild the trust and partnership between beef producers and processors needed to enable the industry to achieve its full potential.

The on-going monitoring and control programmes for the protection of Ireland's animal health status are essential in securing market outlets for our agricultural goods. The extensive bovine TB, brucellosis, BSE and enzootic bovine leucosis programmes reflect the Government's commitment on safeguarding our animal health status but also to allay concerns by the general public on the public health status of our agricultural products. It is worth noting that, despite the recent reported increase in the incidence of BSE, Ireland is classified by the Office International des Epizooties as having a low sporadic incidence of BSE for the purpose of the international trade code adopted by that organisation. The low level of the disease in the country has also been recognised by the European Union which has not included Ireland in the scope of the control measures in respect of BSE adopted following the recommendations of the scientific veterinary committee.