Joe Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)

It is surprising to see a Fianna Fáil backbencher raising an Adjournment matter when he should have other access to the powers that be with regard to such circumstances.

The decision of the EU Council of Ministers to overhaul the Irish sugar industry poses serious questions about the negotiating position of the Minister for Agriculture and Food in those talks. I am disappointed that she is not present. I call on her to make a full statement on the stance she took in negotiating the Irish position. It seems the negotiations were concluded too easily and, once talk of compensation started filtering through, it appears the towel was already thrown in.

Workers in the Mallow plant deserve a full and frank account from the Minister as to her negotiating stance. In the past few weeks, we have heard nothing from her about the impending plight of workers. We are told the Irish sugar industry will get a compensation package worth €310 million under a deal. What percentage of that compensation package will go to the workers? The Minister must make some of the €44 million special assistance package available for workers.

The decision to wipe out a whole industry with the stroke of a pen in Brussels surely poses questions about the nature of our relationship with the EU. North Cork has seen the steady erosion of its industrial base in the past two years. The future for food production in this region looks unsteady. This issue has to be addressed by the Government. It is not enough to state we have become victims of global trends. We have always been model Europeans. The manner in which these proposals were rammed through further undermines our manufacturing base. Is this the model of European integration and social solidarity that we signed up to in 1973?

Furthermore, against the background of rapidly rising oil prices and our obligations under the Kyoto Protocol, there is a stronger case than ever for exploring the biofuel option. We must consider alternative products for the Mallow plant to manufacture.

The facilities exist within the Mallow plant to produce biofuel. We must put in place a viable alternative to ensure production continues within the Mallow plant, which has the capability to produce alternative fuel. I am calling on the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources to extend the biofuels mineral oil tax relief scheme to allow for greater tax relief on the production of biofuels.

This year alone the Government has failed to comply with the European Commission directive on the development of alternative fuel sources, which aimed for all EU states to ensure biofuels make up a minimum of 2% of their fuel mix by the end of 2005. The Government has opted instead for a 0.06% biofuels target for the same period. We have the wherewithal and resources to produce such a fuel in Mallow. Now is the time to act, in advance of the final overhaul of the sugar regime.

The Minister must tell us clearly whether she thinks Mallow sugar factory will be producing sugar beyond 2008 and whether that decision hinges on whether the IFA will accept the compensation package. Furthermore. Mallow has produced sugar since 1933, 40 years before we joined the Common Market and 40 years before a subsidy was ever paid to a beet grower. Why is it not possible now to produce beet in light of a change to the sugar regime? Are we to assume that if the profit margin to beet growers is not high enough in a changed regime, they will opt instead for the compensation package and cease production of beet?

The Minister must tell us whether she has directed Greencore to state whether the compensation package will be more beneficial to it in financial terms through closure or whether it is more feasible to keep the show on the road.

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