Vol. 527 No. 3
82 Ms O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the steps being taken to meet the commitment given in the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness to give priority to a review of the EU sheep meat regime, with the objective of ensuring a support system which reflects the income gap between Irish and other EU producers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28445/00]
A review of the sheep meat regime has been carried out recently on behalf of the EU Commission. One of the consultants carrying out the review visited Ireland. He had detailed discussions with my Department and was given a very full analysis of both the inadequacies of the sheep regime and the manner in which it could be adapted to address the disparity between the income of Irish sheep producers and producers in some other member states. During his visit the consultant also met with the sheep monitoring committee and thus received the views of producers and processors as well as Teagasc and academic interests on how the regime might be amended.
The consultant's report on the regime issued recently. The overall conclusion of the report is that the common ewe premium system makes a significant contribution to the maintenance of producer's incomes but, because of the diversity of production across the EU, its effect on producers' income varies significantly between member states. It has identified many weaknesses in the system and the consultants have offered three options for the future development of the regime. These are the retention of the status quo, the correction of inaccuracies in the current system of calculating the premium and the introduction of a fixed premium.
I took the opportunity to raise my concerns about the report at the recent sheepmeat conference in Brussels and I pointed out in particular that the question of the income gap between Irish and other EU producers needs to be addressed in any reform of the regime. I also asked Commissioner Fischler to examine how an acceptable level of differentiated payments might be implemented in the event of the introduction of a fixed premium. I suggested as an alternative that the present variable premium system might be retained with the introduction of measures such as an extensification premium and a supplementary ewe premium, particularly in member states where both market prices and producers' incomes are significantly below the average for the EU.
The report is still being considered by the Commission and I will continue to press our case for a reform of the sheep meat regime which addresses the issue of the income gap between Irish and other EU sheep producers.
