Ned O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail)

I am sure the matter I propose to discuss on the Adjournment is of concern to the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Martin. He does not need to be worried, but the food division of Enterprise Ireland will feel embarrassed when I tell my story. The Minister visited Mitchelstown, which has been devastated by the stroke of one man, Mr. Jerry Henchy, last year and again yesterday. Mr. Henchy has destroyed the cheese and bacon industries in Mitchelstown, which is the home of good cheese. It has been known throughout the world since the 1930s for its developments and activities in the cheese sector.

The Minister announced during his visit to Mitchelstown yesterday that Dairygold proposes to develop a research and development centre there. The proposed centre might not help to solve the town's problems. I am 62 years of age and even though I might spend another seven or ten years in the House, I am sure I will never see the fruits of the €15.6 million that is being invested in the research and development centre. Many organisations throughout the country are engaged in an ongoing process of research and development.

Enterprise Ireland has many questions to answer. Its food division recommended the closure of the slaughter facility at Galtee Foods and the transfer of the slaughter operation to Glanbia in County Kilkenny. While there is nothing wrong with Glanbia as an organisation, it has not been in the packing business and does not have a brand to compare with Dairygold's Galtee Meats brand, which is well known in this country and Britain. Ideally, the same company that rears pigs and poultry packs them and sells them to the consumer. In such circumstances, consumers can enjoy guarantees of traceability and quality. Danish Crown, a major processing company in Denmark, has a number of secondary packing operations. The Hormel Foods Corporation is involved in the exact same business in the United States. A co-op in Spain is involved in its own branding, slaughtering and traceability. That is the way forward for all industries in the food sector.

Dairygold is known as a commodity buyer throughout the world, whereas Glanbia is known as a commodity seller. Dairygold has no fresh product. There are secondary processors in Denmark, as I have said. They are involved in the slaughterhouses in that country. The two secondary processors in Ireland — Kerry Group and Galtee Meats — are buying product throughout the world. Although Irish pigs are the cheapest in Europe, if not the world, Kerry Group and Galtee Foods prefer to buy cheaper cuts and inferior product from other areas.

The hog industry in the US kills and packs its produce on site because it understands that consumers want freshness. The research and development sector of Enterprise Ireland should have examined the feasibility of such a system in this country before it recommended the closure of the slaughter operation at Galtee Foods and the doubling of the line in Glanbia. It should have doubled the level of output at Galtee Foods because that company enjoyed a significant share of the consumer market.

Enterprise Ireland has almost destroyed the Irish pig industry, which is in crisis. It does not have enough pig-slaughtering facilities, as I said, and it does not have enough markets for the commodities it is producing. The problems in the sugar beet industry, which we have discussed on many occasions, are found throughout the world as a result of the actions of organisations like WTO and arrangements like GATT. The problems in the Irish pig sector have arisen because the industry has been destroyed by Enterprise Ireland, which is a State agency. No grant aid should be paid to secondary processors. All grant aid should be channelled to Glanbia so that it can establish a brand, based on the fresh product in its factory, that is recognised by the housewife. It needs to be able to go right to the marketplace.

I ask the Minister to make a decision to disband the food section of Enterprise Ireland, which is going nowhere, before it destroys the Irish food industry. The food division does not know what it is doing because if it had conducted a feasibility study or a market survey, it would have found out quite easily that it was going in the wrong direction. Moy Park is in the poultry business in Northern Ireland. That company has its own growers, markets and brands and it is not a secondary processor. The same has happened to the poultry industry in southern Ireland. I am a member of a Government and a party, which believe in employment and good farming practices, but that cannot happen where agencies are out to destroy what we are trying to do.

I am totally annoyed, disgruntled and upset by what has happened to Dairygold in my town and in Mallow by a chief executive, Jerry Henchy, who digs holes every day with jackboot tactics, subjecting his employees to a procedure that has never been seen on the island of Ireland. It is time this was stopped. The company has employed a manager who would shoot the wounded to get rid of them. These are the tactics being used against my constituents. This is the first time I have made such an outburst. I want this corrected and I want this behaviour towards the employees of the company to stop. I also want the policy of spending taxpayers' money on research and development to stop because it is being spent foolishly.

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