Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

Last week in the Dáil the Minister for Agriculture and Food indicated that the beet growers, through no fault of their own, will not now be compensated in June because of the pending court case with Greencore. This is disgraceful. Anyone who submits a claim for social welfare is entitled to get some help from the community welfare office while his or her case is pending. I do not see why farmers should be treated differently. Some form of interim payment should be made. I understand a court case is pending, but this matter has been ongoing for two years and the farmers have been treated with contempt from the start. The Minister negotiated a deal that has been fundamentally wrong. Beet was meant to be grown for two years after the deal was concluded. Instead, it was only grown for one year.

I call on the Minister to come into the House and urge her to undertake a complete review of the EU beet restructuring scheme. Only 2 million out of 5 million tonnes has been handed up by the other EU countries. Ireland is one of just three of the remaining member states to have complied. It is a very worrying situation, the beet growers do not deserve this and they are owed money. It is unfair that they should be caught between the Government's incompetence and Greencore's greed.