Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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12. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the progress made to date to resolve the beef crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48280/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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There is no doubt that this past year has been a difficult one for beef farmers as prices have dropped from the high levels of 2013. While I can have no role in negotiating the prices received by farmers, I have made every effort to ensure that we have the appropriate policy support environment in place to secure a sustainable future for all in the beef sector. I brought forward a number of initiatives as part of a €40m investment in the sector in 2014, including the creation of the Beef Genomics Scheme with planned expenditure of €23 million. In the recent budget, I announced a total package of approximately €74 million for the beef sector in 2015, including a provision of €52 million for a proposed Beef Data and Genomics Programme. The budget package included an additional sum of €9 million to fund the Beef Data Programme, €6 million to assist farmer participation in the Beef Quality Assurance Scheme, and a further €1 million for Bord Bia in support of its marketing of Irish products abroad.

As the deputy is aware, I also established a Beef Roundtable forum earlier this year to facilitate discussions on the strategic issues facing the sector and to exchange intelligence on market developments and forecast. The Roundtable has proven to be a valuable resource for improved engagement and communication between stakeholders within the sector. There have been four meetings of the Roundtable to date and I intend to also call a meeting in January to build on recent progress and continue the engagement. The Roundtables have been an excellent opportunity to hear from others such as retailers so that all links in the supply chain better understand the market for Irish beef in Europe.

The most recent discussions last month led to a number of notable outcomes, including the decision to press forward with the development of Producer Organisations to rebalance bargaining power along the supply chain.

Processors also agreed to farmer requests for a moratorium on weight penalties in 2015, no dual base pricing for steers and heifers in individual processing plants, and the introduction of a cost neutral price incentive for all steers and heifers from Quality Assured farms with effect from 1st January. These are just a few of the 23 Outcomes agreed at the meeting of the 12th November.

There should now be no delay in implementing these outcomes. My Department and the relevant State Agencies are working to deliver on various elements of the agreement. It is important that the processors and farm organisations also deliver on their commitments so as to provide a period of stability so that we can move on to tackle the strategic issues facing the sector.

Finally, I should note that beef prices have been increasing in Ireland in recent weeks and months, and have risen by over 7% since the beginning of September. In addition the gap between beef prices here and those in Britain have narrowed by 20 cents a kilo since mid-September. We have also seen very strong trade in live cattle to Northern Ireland in recent weeks. This rising trend is certainly to be welcomed and, together with the reduced input costs in 2014 as identified in recent analysis from Teagasc, should help to improve margins for suckler farmers heading into 2015.