Thank you for allowing me raise this matter this evening. I intend to share my time with Senator Finneran. I join with the Chathaoirleach in welcoming the Minister here this evening and thank him for coming.
I put down this Adjournment matter because of the need for the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry to outline the action taken by his Department to limit the loss of milk production at primary level from sensitive zones to other areas of the country, particularly in view of the present situation at Shannonside Co-op. Ballaghadereen. Shannonside Co-op is owned by three co-operatives in the West, North Connaught Farmers Co-op, Kiltoghert Co-op and Mid-west Farmers Co-op. These three co-operatives cover the five Connaught counties. Collectively they own Shannonside Co-op in Ballaghadereen. Recently one of those co-operatives, Mid-West, took the decision to send 15 million gallons of skim milk from Shannonside in Ballaghadereen to the Nenagh and Tipperary Co-op.
This, as I see it, will cause two major difficulties for the West. First, it will cause a loss of jobs and second, it will undermine the viability and future of Shannonside Co-op. Shannonside currently employs 91 people of whom 34 have been laid off. We saw what happened in Tuam, for example, where sugar processing no longer continues. We were told when the Tuam sugar factory was closed down that a meat plant would be provided there which would create a substantial number of jobs. That never happened.
We have seen Ballyforan close down and we now see the peat being transferred from there to Shannonbridge or Lanesboro, again with loss of jobs in the Roscommon area. In north Roscommon we have seen the closure of the Arigna mines and the power station with huge loss of jobs. We cannot continue this drain with the risk of 34 jobs immediately and a possible 50 or more jobs later. I do not see Shannonside survive if it loses the skimmed milk from Mid-West. The operation in Shannonside will not be viable.
Shannonside is a co-operative which has suffered from mismanagement. Senator Finneran and I were at a meeting recently where the issue was raised. One member from the Ballaghadereen area pointed out that while 34 production workers — 50 per cent of the production workers — were let go they still had seven managers, seven secretarial staff and seven supervisors. I suggest that the management structure is crazy.
I know it is not possible for the Minister to interfere directly in this dispute since it is a dispute between three co-operatives; I do not blame north Connaught farmers — I say this as a farmer — for transferring their milk supply from Shannonside to Nenagh and Tipperary. They are getting approximately £50 per cow more for their milk by sending it to Nenagh and Tipperary than they were getting by sending it to Shannonside. A sum of £50 per cow to somebody with 20 cows is £1,000 profit and no farmer can afford to lose that.
The sizeable article on Shannonside co-operative in The Irish Independent of yesterday clearly highlights the major problems. I would like to see the Minister and his Department become the honest brokers in this dispute between those three co-operatives. It is not as simple as getting straight agreement between the co-operatives themselves. The future must lie in those co-operatives, if possible, coming together and getting another major player into milk manufacturing in the West. As the financial structure of Shannonside would appear to be so weak that it would be impossible for the three existing co-operatives on their own to get the financial structure correct, it is vitally important to try to get the three co-operatives around the table with another player.
The ICOS has a major role to play in bringing those co-operatives together, as has the IDA in an investment programme to keep Shannonside as a modern milk processing plant and to meet all the new requirements that are laid down for plants of that type. Without those elements being brought together I cannot see any future for Shannonside Co-operative and I regret having to say that. It is of vital importance to ensure that jobs are protected in the West. I have to put on record regretfully that I do not see a future for Shannonside if Mid-West is not part of the pool of milk available to Shannonside. At this point with the management structure, the cost structure and the price being paid for the milk, I do not see how the suppliers of Mid-West can continue to supply skimmed milk to Shannonside.
There is a major problem Mid-West also because it will lose its suppliers to other creameries, whether in Westmeath or east Galway, if they do not increase the price of their milk. If they cannot get a better price for their skimmed milk they cannot increase the price of their milk. This is why I ask the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry use its good offices to bring the parties together and to try to get some of the other major companies involved in the manufacturing of milk in Ballaghadereen, and to bring ICOS and the IDA in on the venture also. I understand substantial finance is needed to bring Shannonside up to the standard of a modern manufacturing plant.
I thank the Minister for being here and I would be grateful if his Department could act as an honest broker in this case.
