Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

I also welcome the Minister of State. I would like to speak about the recent revelation from the European Court of Auditors that the European Commission-inspired decision to virtually shut down the Irish sugar beet industry was based on erroneous figures. It was a gravely incorrect and disastrous decision, not just for Irish sugar beet growers but also for the Irish tillage industry, Irish agriculture in general and the economy as a whole. The Minister of State will be aware that the origins of the Irish sugar industry stretched back to the late 1920s. At its prime, there were factories in Tuam, Thurles, Carlow and Mallow. In relatively recent years the number of factories was eventually reduced to one.

When it was decided to close the plant in Carlow, much of the plant and equipment was transferred to the plant in Mallow where further moneys were invested. It appeared that the future of the industry there and in the sugar beet growing areas of the country was safe. However, in 2006 the EU debate on reform of the sugar industry, unfortunately, resulted in the decision to bring the Irish sugar beet industry to an end. This decision was the subject of much debate. There were numerous debates in this House and in the other one. The farming organisations were very involved in the debate and much dialogue took place with Greencore. The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food was involved as were the European parliamentarians and the European Commission.

At the time I was very disappointed by the attitude of the then Minister, Deputy Coughlan, to the industry. It appeared she was not fully committed and that some sort of private deal had been struck in Brussels to allow the Irish industry to be shut down. That came to pass. There were promises of all sorts of compensation. From a north Cork and Mallow perspective, there were promises that the Greencore site would be transformed into a large industrial and residential complex which would employ hundreds of people in construction and so on but that never came to pass.

Purely from an agricultural perspective, we have no sugar beet industry in Ireland. That affected the hundreds of people who grew sugar beet and who could do so again. It affected thousands of tillage farmers from a crop rotation perspective. It also affected the thousands of people who worked directly in the factory or indirectly in the spin-off industries. The closure of the Irish sugar beet industry has had a very negative outcome.

It is amazing that the European Court of Auditors has produced very damning evidence that the decision was possibly incorrect. I do not want to put words into the mouths of the auditors but the evidence is based on the fact, or the supposition, that the European Commission made a decision based on incorrect figures and an incorrect year of assessment. At the time the Mallow plant was shut, it was profitable and modern and was the only one remaining in this country.

Where do we go from here? As a result of the decision taken by the European Commission which was based on incorrect facts and in conjunction with the Government, which was very much complicit in accepting that decision, there is now a strong moral obligation on the European Commission and the Government to investigate the possibility redeveloping or regrowing, if one will excuse the pun, a sugar beet industry in this country. A sugar beet industry would not simply process sugar, which is a much needed commodity in this country and in the European Union which is now a net importer of sugar. A sugar beet processing factory in Ireland could process sugar, produce ethanol, a bio-fuel type product, electricity or district heating. Those are some of the options being spoken about.

We are in a desperate place economically. We face a regime, perhaps imposed from outside, of further cuts and reductions in our income, industries and economic well-being. We must be in a position to offer some new hope and growth. The Government in the very new Irish State in the late 1920s had the vision to decide that a sugar beet industry should be set up. It took the political decision to do so and matched it with the appropriate funding and expertise and made an industry out of nothing.

Will the Minister of State and his Government colleagues reflect on the fact that agriculture needs a stimulus and that we should look at the possibility of reopening a sugar beet and related industry? Currently, the Minister of State's colleagues in the Department of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries are negotiating, on a daily basis, the future of the Common Agricultural Policy. It is a very opportune time to reflect on the possibility of restarting a sugar beet growing industry. Will the Minister of State take a proactive role from an economic, environmental, agricultural and a stimulus perspective?

This industry transformed parts of rural Ireland in the 1920s, 1930s and beyond and it can do so again. As we have learned, the decision to shut it was based on incorrect facts. There is an obligation on all of us, in particular on the Government and the European Commission, to try to reverse that decision and to begin again.