Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

I propose an amendment to the Order of Business that after No. 1, we set aside time to discuss the future of the Irish sugar beet industry. As colleagues will be aware, last week in Brussels the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Deputy Coughlan, agreed to the reform of the European sugar industry. As a result of the reform package agreed by the Minister, it is now inevitable that the Irish sugar beet industry will cease to exist and that sugar beet will no longer be grown in this country. For the first time since Ireland's entry into the European Union in 1973, a decision taken in Brussels and agreed by the Government at EU level will result in the elimination of a native Irish industry.

At present, almost 4,000 people grow sugar beet in Ireland and their future is written off. The jobs of hundreds of people working at the factory in Mallow will also disappear. Up to 3,000 or 4,000 people work in associated areas, in the haulage industry, in the service industry and as electricians, mechanics, etc. The jobs of all these people will be lost as a result of the decision that was agreed by the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Deputy Coughlan. The Minister has made the case that agreed compensation will be paid but the issue now causing the most grave concern to people involved in the sugar beet industry is that farmers will get very little while Greencore will get the bulk of it.