Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

I thank Senator John Paul Phelan for sharing time with me. I share the sentiments he has expressed in terms of how the compensation should be allocated. The Minister has advised that decisions may not be made before the autumn. The one issue that was clarified by Brussels is that a minimum of 10% of the restructuring fund must be given to producers and contractors. We certainly want to see that 10% more than exceeded and the closer the figure is to 100%, the better.

I seek clarification from the Minister of State on one issue. The Minister spoke on this point previously, as did the EU agriculture Commissioner when she addressed the Dáil some weeks ago. Under the disastrous agreement signed in Brussels to shut down the Irish sugar industry, we also appear to have agreed to a provision whereby, if the Mallow plant is not physically razed to the ground, the €145 million restructuring fund will not be paid in full and a deduction would be made from it. This is inexplicable and the matter requires to be urgently reviewed

A declaration was made at the last EU summit by the Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, and his colleagues across Europe that one of their political and economic priorities for the current year would be the support of alternative energy projects. While that statement was laudable, it appears that European Ministers for agriculture have signed up to an agreement to the effect that farmers in the State would be penalised if we tried to use our decommissioned sugar factories for the purpose of producing alternative energy. We could validly ask if some derogation could be provided from this agreement. The majority of the fund of €145 million must be paid to the farming community which produced the sugar beet and the contractors whose livelihoods have been ruined.

The Mallow plant could be used for the production of alternative energy. This possibility is now being examined by Cork County Council. The IFA has also set up a committee to investigate alternative energy projects. All of this is welcome but it is impossible to defend the decision that in order to claim the full amount of compensation we must not just decommission the factory in Mallow — which has already happened but raze it to the ground and return the area to a greenfield site. I urge the Minister of State, Deputy Parlon, to use his good offices and that of his senior Ministers to try to bring about a change of heart in the European Commission in terms of that particular decision.

The Minister of State is aware from his current and former jobs that the aim of the sugar proposals was to reduce the production of white sugar in Europe. Ireland is now reluctantly playing its part in that respect. We will no longer produce white sugar and our sugar industry is, effectively, finished. The factory has been decommissioned for the purpose of processing white sugar but it defies logic that a factory which with a certain degree of modification could lead the production of biofuels in this country must be knocked to the ground in order to qualify for full compensation. I ask the Minister of State to reflect on this matter and see if we could make some sense out of that nonsensical provision.