I move:
That Seanad Éireann recognises the huge importance of the Fischler proposals for Ireland, notes with approval the stated intention of the Minister for Agriculture and Food to defend Ireland's position vis-à-vis these proposals and requests him to lay out these proposals and his responses to them to the Seanad.
I wish to extend our congratulations to the Minister, Deputy Joe Walsh, on receiving the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit in Agriculture, Fisheries and Food from the King of Spain, Juan Carlos I. The agriculture order of merit was created by royal decree on 3 December 1905. The award is a grand cross and only four people from outside Spain have received it, which is the reason I mention it this evening. It was presented to the director general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation in 1996, to the German Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry in 1993 and to the French Minister for Agriculture in 2001. I also congratulate the Minister on having been presented a few months ago with the Legion of Honour from the French Government. It was signed by the President of France.
That is recognition by two other member states of the quality of our Minister. I hope he will be appreciated in this country, but people sometimes do not get the recognition they deserve in their own homeland. Member states of the EU have accorded recognition to the Minister's unique qualities and we congratulate him on that.
I must express a degree of disappointment that Fine Gael has proposed an amendment to the motion, although it was to be expected. That is the party's prerogative. Social partnership is a must for farmers, who have been involved in it since its inception in 1987. No partnership pillar has benefited more from participation in that process than farming. It gives the farming bodies a unique opportunity to participate in a meaningful way in the democratic process. They have a formal partnership mechanism through which they can express their views and negotiate an agreed plan for the next two years. To withdraw from this process would be nothing short of folly on the part of the farm organisations.
There are two serious questions that farm leaders must address in the context of their participation in the social partnership agreement now on offer. First, is it in the best interests of their membership to reject the opportunity to participate in the formulation and implementation of policies which affect not only farmers but the general economy? Second, through what other forum will they have an opportunity to defend their rights and interests and protect the benefits they receive under the CAP and other wide-ranging international agreements under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation?
I wish to remind farmers of some fundamental developments in Irish farming since 1987. At that time farmers depended solely on the goodwill of meat factory owners for a reasonable income. It was not satisfactory that the incomes of livestock farmers should be dictated by a small group of meat factory owners. In some cases that is still happening. However, at least direct payments are paid directly to the farmers.
The Fine Gael record in looking after farmers' interests has always been abysmal, never more so than under the coalition Government of 1982-7. Not alone did that Government double the national debt and raise interest, income tax and inflation rates to their highest levels ever, it did nothing for the agriculture sector which was being strangled by these high interest and inflation rates. Fine Gael could never be accused of any economic innovation or of negotiating a good deal for Irish farmers in Brussels or anywhere else.
Contrast that with the imaginative and progressive Fianna Fáil approach. Two of the innovators of the new national partnership process in 1987 turned their minds to the long overdue reform of the CAP in 1989. The then Commissioner, Mr. Ray MacSharry, and the Minister, Deputy Joe Walsh, negotiated and put the most fundamental reform of the CAP in place. These negotiations were in the face of stern opposition from intensive farmer groups across the EU. The CAP reforms came into effect in 1992. They involved transferring payments away from the meat companies and paying price supports directly to farmers. The system was designed to reward the extensive type of farming systems practised in Ireland and was less favourable to the intensive systems practised in some member states.
At the time certain interests in farming organisations vehemently opposed these reforms. They have learnt their lesson and are now among the staunchest defenders of the direct payments system. While they ponder whether to join the current social partnership process, I ask them seriously to reflect on where their best interests lie. The choice is theirs. One way or another this Government is going to continue the economic development and expansion of the economy. The Minister will maintain and, indeed, improve his impeccable record of looking after farmers and defending their interests. I ask farm leaders to remember that when the Commission tried to dismantle the 1992 CAP reforms in the Agenda 2000 negotiations the Minister, Deputy Joe Walsh, was again on hand to defend our farmers' interests and negotiated enhanced payments for them. The package of measures he negotiated brought direct payment rates to record levels. As a result, Irish farmers are today paid in excess of €1.6 billion annually through the Department by way of income supports. This is an important and increasing element of farmers' annual income.
I will remind farm leaders and Fine Gael what this Minister and the Government have done for farmers in recent times. First, I will outline the Minister's main achievements. He mobilised the resources of the State to fight the foot and mouth disease threat, which could have devastated Irish agriculture and the economy. He put into immediate effect the cattle destruction market support schemes, involving the use of substantial Exchequer resources, to support the beef sector and producer prices during the BSE crisis. These schemes cost in excess of €400 million. He adopted a hands on approach to re-opening markets for agricultural produce, involving the full deployment of political, diplomatic and technical resources.
The Minister developed and implemented, at considerable expense to the taxpayer, traceability systems for cattle, sheep and pigs to provide state of the art food safety guarantees for consumers of Irish products and provide a marketing edge in increasingly competitive markets. He put in place one of the most efficient systems in the EU for payment of direct income payments to farmers, with the vast bulk of cheques now issuing on the first day allowed under EU regulations. No other member state administration matches this level of service.
The Minister negotiated, against all the odds, what has been universally acknowledged as a most favourable outcome for Irish farmers in the Agenda 2000 CAP reform. He copperfastened the Agenda 2000 gains in the recent Brussels summit decision on the future financing of the CAP, securing direct payments to 2013. He successfully defended export refunds in the WTO negotiations at Doha, is providing €2.8 billion in public expenditure to support the agriculture sector in 2003, of which €1.6 billion will be paid directly to farmers, and he has continued to allocate substantial Exchequer resources to control animal diseases in the national herd.
In order to address the difficulties faced by farmers arising from the bad weather, the Minister obtained EU agreement on a number of occasions to strengthen significantly market supports for dairy products; refunds for skimmed milk powder increased on six occasions and casein aid increased by a total of 80%. He secured EU agreement to allow the use of set-aside land for grazing and fodder and negotiated the lifting of the Russian county ban on beef exports, which was a huge international vote of confidence in the way Ireland handles BSE. The Minister further obtained EU agreement to allow an increase of up to 30% in beef export refunds. He took many other measures in the past year to ensure that Irish farming, despite a difficult year, would continue to survive, expand and thrive.
I assure the Minister of our full support of his staunch defence of the direct support arrangements in the current mid-term review negotiations. However, a cause of concern is that recent data indicate that 82% of farmers receiving direct payments get 43% of the payments, averaging €3,300 per farmer, while the remaining 18% received 57% of the total, averaging €20,000 per farmer. The top 10% of farmers took an average of €27,200 per farmer. Anything that can be done by way of front-loading these payments in favour of smaller farmers would be most welcome.
Farm leaders would be best employed sitting down with the Minister to devise strategies to meet the robust challenges ahead. The most meaningful way to show a united front to Commissioner Fischler is as committed participants in a new partnership programme. We have the most successful Minister for Agriculture and Food ever to negotiate at EU level on behalf of farmers. Let us give him our staunchest support in the major challenges he now faces – the mid-term review of the CAP and the WTO negotiations. We have a great Minister – nobody knows better the ropes of Europe or the WTO negotiations.
I put it to all Members of the House that, across party lines, we should support the Minister in the interests of a thriving Irish agriculture sector. If we do that, we will have done a good evening's work. I trust that the Minister will take our hope and the hopes of Irish agriculture on his shoulders. God speed him.