Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. The deal currently on the table in the World Trade Organisation negotiations is most damaging for the beef and dairy industries but is also likely to have a knock-on effect in other areas of agriculture and agribusiness. It will cost the economy an estimated €4 billion per year. There is widespread concern regarding the general state of economic affairs. The economy could certainly not withstand the removal of €4 billion, including the loss of €2 billion in export earnings, if the current proposals are carried through.

There have been significant job losses in the poultry industry in my constituency of Limerick West. Whatever semblance of the poultry industry remains — there are still farmers engaged in it in my area — will be wiped out if these proposals are implemented. Some 50,000 jobs in agricultural manufacturing and services throughout the State will be lost. In recent decades, we have witnessed a remarkable change in the agricultural industry. Many farmers in my own constituency and elsewhere now operate on a part-time basis only. In other cases, either the wife or husband in a farming family must take a second job to supplement their income from agriculture. According to the Irish Farmers Association, the current proposals will take 50,000 farmers out of business, leading to a further decline in the contribution of agriculture to our economy and society. One million suckler cows will be slaughtered, decimating that sector on which many farmers who have moved into part-time farming now depend for a decent livelihood.

In my own area in Limerick, dairy farming is extremely important to the regional economy. These proposals will have a devastating effect on the dairy industry. The proposed 70% tariff cut means the imposed price for butter will be 16% below the EU rate. The drop in tariff, according to the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association, ICMSA, will be from 18 cent to 4 cent per litre. This means Irish dairy farmers will be expected to operate at New Zealand prices plus 4 cent per litre from inside the most heavily regulated and cost intensive production system on the planet. The loss to a 350,000 litre dairy farmer is in the order of €27,000 per annum. This would decimate the dairy farming industry in my constituency.

Ireland is the fourth largest exporter of beef in the world. It is a vital national interest estimated to be worth three times more to Ireland than wine is to the French market. A 70% cut in beef tariffs is estimated to reduce cattle prices to an unsustainable level of £2 per kilogram or 70p per pound. When I left the beef industry in 1988, having worked in it for more than 20 years, the price of beef was 108p per pound. The prices being forecast will devastate the industry. It is inconceivable that there should be such a change in the return to beef farmers. There is already a major discrepancy in this regard compared with what was available in the late 1980s. The industry will become unviable if the current proposals are implemented. A reduction of such scale in prices would not even cover the cost of production of beef. I urge the Minister to ensure these proposals, the details of which she seems unsure of, are rejected by the Government.

See this speech in context