Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

Gabhaim buíochas don Teachta as an cheist seo a ardú.

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has a long association with the malting barley industry in Ireland which dates back to the beginning of the 1900s, with the introduction of a Guinness-initiated programme of breeding and trialling to improve the varieties of malting barley available to Irish growers. This association was formalised in 1971 when my Department and Guinness agreed to share the operating costs of the programme. The programme ceased in 2002, due mainly to Guinness withdrawing from it.

A number of other significant developments also took place in the brewing industry in Ireland at that time: first, Guinness was subsumed into a new operating company, Diageo, and decided to cease buying malting barley from growers and instead purchase finished malt from malting companies; and, second, the Greencore Malting Group was formed at the beginning of 2000 following the integration of the three Greencore-owned malting companies, namely, Pauls Malt in the UK, Minch Malt in Ireland and Belgomalt in Belgium.

These changes facilitated the introduction of a new operating relationship and cost structure programme between the Department and the malting industry whereby maltsters identified the varieties for entry into official trials and became involved in replicating the trials; and the Department continued official trialling of the varieties and submitted samples from the trials as well as issuing the appropriate results and reports. The industry paid an annual cost to the Department for this service.

While this arrangement has worked well from an operational point of view, the number of malting barley varieties being trialled has decreased significantly in the past decade. There has been an increased focus and discussion between maltsters - particularly Greencore, which is the main purchaser of malting barley in Ireland - and growers' representatives with regard to the prices being paid. The issue of prices paid for malting barley in Ireland is a matter for growers and malting companies.

I am aware of recent press coverage suggesting that Greencore may be exiting the malting industry by selling off its operation. While my Department, particularly in light of its involvement in the trialling, will be monitoring developments, the issue of the sale of the company by Greencore is a commercial matter for those involved and I cannot become involved in any formal way in that regard. However, I will discuss the matter with the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Deputy Brendan Smith, in order to discover what action might be taken.

See this speech in context