Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

I wish to share my time with Senators Bradford and John Paul Phelan. It would be useful, before the House rises for the summer recess, to raise the issue of the sugar beet industry again. My colleagues, Senators John Phelan and Bradford have raised the matter recently. It is important at this stage to find out exactly how many submissions have been received by the Department of Agriculture and Food on the EU sugar restructuring process and what criteria the Department will be using in allocating compensation to the various parties, namely, Greencore, beet growers, contractors and machinery operators, whose business has been wiped out overnight.

We wish the Minister to know that Members on this side of the House take the issue very seriously. The Government has a disastrous record in this area. We have seen an industry wiped out. While I appreciate that the world price for sugar as against what one would need to charge to make a profit necessitated a major change, it is a pity the Government has not been proactive in finding replacement industry or alternative fuel with the sugar beet and the plants. It seems to be quite happy just to wind the operation up. A test for the Government will be the restructuring plan and the compensation allocation. There is a demand by growers that they would get the lion's share of the compensation and most people would be very unhappy to see Greencore doing well out of the compensation package. The company has done well enough already.