Noel Coonan (Fine Gael)

I second the proposed amendment to the Order of Business tabled by Senator Bradford. There is a crisis not only in the sugar industry but in agriculture. The farming community has suffered dreadful pain through CAP reforms. Sugar proposals that devastated Tuam, Thurles and Carlow now put the Mallow plant under threat. I have called for this debate over the past two weeks and I am disappointed it has not taken place. Perhaps the Leader will accede to the amendment today.

Compensation for beet growers should be directed towards the farmers rather than "Greedcore", as the farming community has described it. The company must shoulder the blame and responsibility for poor decisions that have caused this crisis.

Pig farmers' difficulties with the nitrates directive must also be addressed. Every bacon factory and every worker in those factories is threatened if this problem is not addressed. Poultry farmers are also having difficulty. We must grasp this issue and have a debate on it. We must stand firm against the Mandelson foxes, who want cuts in agricultural subsidies to liberalise trade in industrial goods. Sugar beet is of vital interest to the country and we should not be penalised by decisions of the British who only want cheap food. Mandelson has been supported and complimented by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern, on his role in securing agreement on world trade.