Vol. 527 No. 5
114 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the proposals he has to provide extended aids to private storage provision in order that farmers are assisted during the current difficulties in the beef industry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29030/00]
The Commission has already introduced a private storage aid scheme for cow beef with effect from 27 November to 2 February 2001 in order to alleviate the impact of the current market difficulties on farmers. In addition, the Commission has indicated that it intends to introduce a "purchase for destruction" scheme under which beef from cattle over 30 months of age can be destroyed unless it has been tested for BSE. This should make a substantial contribution to market balance in the EU. The Commission has also undertaken to introduce flexible intervention and I am confident that an effective and meaningful intervention arrangement which can provide the basis for a resumption of orderly marketing will be put in place at the beef management committee on 12 December 2000.
The Government has also made every effort to ensure that all major markets remain open to Irish beef, particularly Egypt, which has suspended issuing import licences to EU traders. Senior officials of my Department travelled to Egypt at the weekend for meetings with senior Egyptian officials. Ireland has an extremely positive case to make on BSE and these officials ensured that the Egyptian authorities were made fully aware of the controls we have in place. Furthermore, the Taoiseach has raised the matter with President Mubarak. He impressed upon him the full facts about Irish beef exports and asked him to avoid taking definitive action which may damage this trade.
I also visited Egypt after the meeting of the Council earlier this week to meet the Deputy Prime Minister and Agriculture Minister, Dr. Wali. I impressed upon him the importance of the market to Ireland, the quality and safety controls in place in Ireland and the guarantees which can be given to consumers of Irish beef and I also briefed him on the range of measures which will be put in place within the EU to deal with BSE which, I believe, will help restore consumer confidence and eliminate much of the confusion which has arisen out of the recent BSE scares. The meeting with Dr. Wali was very positive. Once the Egyptian authorities have completed their assessment of recent developments, I am confident that there will be an early resumption of the issuing of import licences.
In conclusion, I believe that, in view of the measures adopted at EU level both in terms of increasing protection of human health and restoring consumer confidence in beef and providing market supports, it is not necessary at this stage to extend the aids for private storage scheme.
