While the motion before the House is the issue of confidence in the Government, another issue we should bear in mind is the question of confidence in our democratic procedures and the manner in which each elected representative discharges his responsibility as a democratically elected representative of this Parliament, which was hard fought for and achieved by the sacrifices of the great people who went before us.
As I came into this Chamber I heard the spokesperson for Agriculture and Food of the main Opposition Party range over a predictable tirade of abuse at a personal level and ranging from terms such as "ass", "idiot" and "fool."

A Leas-Cheann Comhairle, you will probably be familiar with that learned French writer and philosopher, Voltaire, but I suspect that Deputy Deasy who attributed such qualities to me as those of an ass, an idiot [670] and a fool would not be so familiar with Voltaire.

Let me commend to Deputy Deasy what Voltaire had to say about people such as those who claim to have the perception of wisdom of Deputy Deasy. He said very simply "O Heavens, he who thinks himself wise is a great fool indeed." To be accused of being a fool by Deputy Deasy who clearly thinks himself wise, but who according to the imortal words of Voltaire can be said to be a great fool indeed, I regard as a great tribute.

If that is the level of contribution that Deputy Deasy can make to the debate in this House or to discussions on the issue of agriculture, it is not great, no more than was his contribution when he was Minister for Agriculture.

At the end of 1986 when the great wise Deputy Deasy was Minister for Agriculture the consumer price index showed that total farm incomes were nominally of 1,141 million. Four years later, during the period for which I had responsibility this rose to 1,689 million, a nominal increase of 48 per cent and a real increase of 31 per cent. If I am the disastrous failure that Deputy Deasy accuses me of being, let me say that the accusations he makes against himself are very severe indeed.

In the spirit of the debate let me turn to the major issues that have to be addressed in the interests [671] not just of the Irish farmers but of the Irish people generally.
When the Council of Agriculture Ministers resumes for a three day session in Brussels next week at stake for Ireland, and not just our farmers, will be issues of vital importance - the Common Agricultural Policy reform proposals and the mandate for the agricultural element in the GATT negotiations. I want to assure the House that my total commitment in these negotiations will be the protection of that vital interest. I will not be distracted by any spurious smears and charges, however unfounded from discharging my constitutional responsibility during the course of those negotiations. The farmers of Ireland are entitled to nothing less. Even before the negotiations start in Brussels next week I will have personal and important discussions in Dublin over the weekend with the Dutch President of the Council, Piet Bukman, whom I invited here to underline to him the unique importance of agriculture in the Irish economy.
In 1990 agriculture accounted for about 10 per cent of GDP and 15 per cent of employment. Its contribution to foreign earnings is of particular importance. While exports of agricultural and food products and beverages accounted for 22 per cent of total exports in 1990, it is significant that the contribution to net foreign exchange earnings, account being taken of such factors as import content, profit repatriation and receipt transfers, was of the order of 35 per cent.
I acknowledge that the continuing importance of the agricultural sector is vital for our whole economy and not just for farmers. The continuing economic importance of this sector is highlighted by comparisons between Ireland and other EC countries. For the average member state, agriculture contributes about 3 per cent of GDP. I note that Deputy Deasy is leaving. I hope he will not engage in his usual tirade of vulgar abuse as distinct from any kind of rational analysis. It will be seen, then, that the importance of the sector in Ireland is three times that of the Community as a whole. For that reason [672] we must acknowledge that the current negotiations are the most important undertaken in the agricultural field since we joined the European Community and I can assure the House that these negotiations are being treated as such by the Government. I am certainly treating them in that way.
Our position in these historic negotiations has to be informed by the central importance of agriculture in the Irish economy. As I have indicated, it is of greater relative importance to us than to any other country in the Community with the possible exception of Greece. But for me, of even greater importance than the role of agriculture in the economy is its importance for people who can be forgotten in a welter of statistics. However, the statistics I quoted for Deputy Deasy at the outset come from the Central Statistics Office and give the lie to the spurious charges that he has been spreading around since he gave up responsibility for the Department.

The farm families of Ireland and the workers in associated industries have legitimate fears and concerns at this time in the face of what is recognised as the most significant overhaul of policy in the agricultural sector since we joined the European Community. I want to put on record that it is their interests which will be formost in my mind, and nothing else, in the coming months and they need have no fear about the Government's commitment to ensuring that they will be safeguarded in the final outcome.
I should like to highlight the negative contribution made by some Members during the course of the former negotiations. Precisely when livestock products were being discussed - livestock products being the most important component for this country - I was made aware by my office of spurious charges being made on radio at home by Deputy Richard Bruton. Those charges were untrue and ill-founded, and I shall come back to them. I was called out from the [673] vitally important negotiations in order to provide information so that Deputy Richard Bruton could be refuted in the spurious allegations. I shall deal with Deputy Richard Bruton and Deputy Deasy later. If their purpose was to try to undermine the national interest by trying to distract me, they failed.
I made it abundantly clear to this House that the Commission's proposals as presented to date are not acceptable to the Government. Equally, the Government accept that an unreformed Common Agricultural Policy is not a realistic alternative. However, it is imperative that the principles upon which the Common Agricultural Policy is based are not sacrificed but, through the process of adjustment, are given more effective implementation. The Council and the Commission are in no doubt about Ireland's position on these matters. To drive the point home, I have relied on the principles of the Common Agricultural Policy, the Treaty of Rome and the Commission's own objectives to highlight the inconsistencies between their proposals and the stated objectives of the policy, the Treaty of Rome and the Commission. I have used, and will continue to use, every opportunity both in the many bilateral contacts I have had with my fellow agriculture Ministers, with Commissioner MacSharry and in discussions in the Council to set out Ireland's difficulties and Ireland's demands.
I take the view that it is only through the continuation of contacts of this nature that we can lay the foundation for the recognition of Ireland's special case and, where possible facilitate the development of an agreed approach on elements where we share interests with other member states.
The central plank of our appoach to reform is that there must be balance between the legitimate expectations of our smaller producers for a fair level of income and the need to ensure that the commercial element in our agriculture, which is of crucial importance to the maintenance of a competitive and vibrant industry, is not undermined.
[674] In addition to this general principle of our policy, I have clearly indicated to the Commission and my colleagues in the Council that as far as I am concerned there can be no progress in the negotiations unless the following preconditions at least are met. I shall again set them out. First, the needs of economies critically dependent on agriculture must be properly met; that is a Treaty obligation. Secondly, the mechanisms finally agreed must effectively implement the underlying principles of the Common Agricultural Policy and involve a clear commitment to defend acceptable levels of market prices; that is a social obligation. Thirdly, adequate Community finanical resources must be guaranteed both immediately and in the longer term to underpin the policy; that is a Community obligation, because it is not open to the Commission to transfer responsibility for these financial provisions to the member states where it is a matter of Community competence. Fourthly, adequate support must be given to ensure that the vital commercial element in our agriculture remains viable. Fifthly, support for extensive production must take realistic account of what is required to maintain the economic basis of modern family farms. I shall put that in practical terms. Now that the Government have achieved what Deputy Deasy never even contemplated, the extension of the disadvantaged areas scheme to almost 75 per cent of this country, I shall not leave the table of the Council of Ministers unless I get a change in the present stocking rate proposal of 1.4 livestock units per hectare for disadvantaged areas. Two livestock units and nothing less is what I will require before I shall move to the next stage of the negotiations. If that is not a specific commitment then I suppose the Opposition could never expect one.

That is more of the old, enlightened vulgar abuse that is [675] stock and trade of Deputy Deasy. Long may he remain to practise it to prove that this generation are worthy of those who gave us this privilege 70 years ago. May he keep at it.
It is also vital that the compensatory elements do not discriminate against the grass-based livestock production. That is an essential element. The seventh, and final point on this short list, is that any changes in the Common Agricultural Policy must be dovetailed with, and given full credit in the finalisation of the GATT negotiations. They are crucial and central to the case.
While I have clearly set down Ireland's general opposition to these proposals as currently constituted, it has to be said that there are elements that I regard as positive from Ireland's point of view. For example, the proposed promotion programmes for the beef and dairy sectors and the proposed Community campaign to stamp out the use of growth promoting substances are especially welcome. The proposals in the socio-structural package could also be of significant benefit to certain sectors of the agricultural community. There are other elements which could with adjustment be of much interest to us, but only if they are backed by adequate budgetary resources and assured into the future on a permanent basis.
On the home front I wish to underline my commitment to a continuation of the consultation process with the agricultural interests provided for under the Programme for Economic and Social Progress. My officials and I have been involved in regular contacts with the farm organisations over recent months in the context of the Programme for Economic and Social Progress. These will continue - in fact, the latest took place as this debate was starting yesterday - in the difficult months ahead when it will be vital to put all of our heads together and ensure a strong and united Irish voice in the reform debate.
In relation to the GATT Uruguay Round negotiations that are now entering a delicate and decisive stage, they [676] are, of course, another very important element for the future of the Common Agricultural Policy. While the Common Agricultural Policy reform process is an internal Community action, its outcome will be a major contribution in the European Community's compliance with ultimate GATT commitments. To that extent, it is necessary to have a certain parallelism in the course of both sets of negotiations. In this way, it should be possible to ensure that the reforms are dovetailed with the outcome of the Uruguay Round and so remain compatible with GATT commitments and allow the Community to secure credit for the reforms to be undertaken.
For my part, I have maintained a strong line in the Agriculture Council to ensure that European and particularly Irish farmers are not disadvantaged by the outcome of the GATT negotiations. I will be availing of the Agriculture Council meeting next week to again stress this point and to warn the Commission against taking any initiatives in Geneva which would put at risk the essential principles of the Common Agricultural Policy. It was during our presidency, when I was President of the Agriculture Council, that it was first agreed by the Council of Agriculture Ministers that the agriculture element in the GATT would be determined by the mandate of the Agriculture Ministers and none other. What I achieved at that stage I intend to protect at every stage of these negotiations.

That is about a measure of what the Deputy knows. Of course it was not. In the GATT negotiations the mandate was given by the Council of Foreign Ministers.

It is not a matter of [677] Tipperary local interest. If it were, that would be all right, but, unfortunately, it is a matter of great international concern. The Deputy should know that the GATT mandate was always given by the Foreign Ministers Council. That is all I say to him. That has changed. Every element of the GATT mandate, if the Deputy will listen, whether it was trade, services or whatever, was always given by the Council of Foreign Ministers. The first change that occurred happened in our time. The Deputy may spoof all he wants after that.

I hate to see ignorance as well as everything else being thrown around the House.
Many people in the farming sector and on the Opposition benches seem to regard the GATT negotiations in an entirely negative way, yet many of those people are telling me in the context of Common Agricultural Policy reform that our international competitors must be asked to accept some disciplines as well. I fully accept the need for balance in the outcome of those negotiations, which is why I have consistently and strongly supported the concepts of rebalancing and reciprocal disciplines on the part of other trading nations. I insist again that that will be an essential component in our demands in the GATT negotiations. It is only in the context of multilateral negotiations that we can get our competitors to do this and the GATT negotiations provide the appropriate forum.
[678] Similarly, people seem to view the opening up of markets as a one-way street, in other words, by way of products coming into the Community. However, given Ireland's need to export, particularly agricultural products, we need to maintain access to our current markets and to gain or increase access to markets from which we are at present excluded or to which we have limited access. Therefore, the result of failure in the Uruguay Round negotiations would be a retreat into trade blocs and a plethora of bilatreal trade disputes. One can see this happening already in the way in which trade groups are developing such as the proposed North American free trade agreement covering the United States, Canada and Mexico.
There is no doubt that any GATT agreement will have its drawbacks as well as its advantages. Through my efforts in the Agriculture Council, I have received assurances in relation to compensatory actions at European Community level which will offer a viable future to Community farmers, the continuance of Community preference and a guarantee that the total level of assistance to less-favoured regions will not be reduced as a result of the Uruguay Round negotiations. These assurances will be a big help in offsetting any disadvantages, particularly since over 70 per cent of our country now falls into the less-favoured category.
Agriculture and rural development are also vital components of the overall economy in Northern Ireland. That is a matter very dear to my party and, I believe, to every Member of this House. It is a matter in which I have had a firm and constant involvement since I entered politics 26 years ago. The natural features of Ireland are not changed by the Border. For that reason I have been ever conscious in all my negotiations of the need to co-ordinate policy positions in the interests of all farmers, North and South, and have consulted regularly with my British colleague to advance this common interest. Recently I was in Belfast with [679] the Under-Secretary of State for Agriculture to ensure that, with common purpose, we can advance the common interests of Irish farmers, North and South, hopefully breaking down one more barrier of suspicion and hatred all too much a characteristic of that sad part of our country at this stage.
Whatever the outcome of negotiations one thing is clear - the days of over-reliance on commodity trading and market support mechanisms must be brought to an end in Ireland. The key to maintaining the future viability of our agriculture lies in our ability to adopt a much more market-driven approach to agricultural production. I should like to assure all involved in the agricultural sector and those dependent on it that Government will continue to give top priority to a market-driven strategy based on quality assurance and the highest attainable standards. For that reason since I became Minister - and I might add that Deputy Deasy would not recognise the controls that now obtain; they are so much better and stringent than those that obtained in his time - I have put in place a whole range of additional controls to strengthen the normal controls that have been in place in my Department for many years.
The Department's control system, like any other policing system, is capable of being breached, of course it is, particularly if avaricious people are determined to breach it and set about doing so systematically. What matters is that that control system is reviewed periodically to check for possible weaknesses that emerge from changing circumstances. It is also important that that system be reviewed after each known breach to identify what action needs to be taken to prevent similar recurrences. Both periodic review and review after a breach has occurred are now standard practice in my Department.
In the light of the last periodic review I effected two changes of major significance - Deputy Deasy, please note. The first was the establishment towards [680] the end of last year of a separate intervention unit in my Department. That move brought together for the first time all the European Community intervention functions which, prior to that, had been located in the various commodity divisions of the Department. The benefits from tighter, more uniform procedures across the board, have been considerable.
The second change to which I refer was the establishment, again at the end of last year, of a control inquiry group which has power to dispatch control inquiry teams to carry out unannounced, on-the-spot, inspections from headquarters of meat and dairy plants.

Over 20 such inspections have taken place since the system was set up less than 12 months ago. On foot of the more recent inspections by these teams documentary evidence was placed in the custody of the Garda and investigations by them have commenced.

In addition, a complete upgrading of my Department's information technology facilities for intervention is now under way.
I recognise that the very complexity of the regulatory system is a factor that renders effective control more difficult. My Department are currently working, in parallel with similar efforts at EC level, on the simplification of documentation and procedures for intervention control. Of course, such further changes in the control system as may be indicated by the current investigations will be effected. I give the people my solemn commitment in this House that that will be done.
The abuse of veterinary medicines is a new problem in Irish agriculture. It is practised by an unrepresentative, reckless minority and runs the risk of doing enormous damage to our meat export [681] industry. Over the past two years I have introduced a range of regulatory controls and I will be bringing proposals before this House to apply considerably increased penalties for offenders. Specific inspection procedures at farm and factory level have been put into operation already. The role of the Garda in this area has been expanded. Particular attention has been devoted to cutting off the supply sources of these products. We have had very considerable success in that connection recently. It is my belief we have made substantial progress in clamping down on these abuses but I am not saying, in this or in any other area, that there will not be outbreaks of individual, shameful breaches of the regulations.

I want to ensure that the controls we have put in place will minimise the number of offences and then punish and impose sanctions on those disgraceful few who damage the interests of this country.

However, it should be recognised that whatever problem exists in this area is self-inflicted which can be quickly and easily overcome by the collective will of the industry to ostracise the abusers and to have nothing to do with these substances. Let me add that whatever the source of negligence, collusion or whatever, wherever it occurs I will seek it out and ensure that those responsible are punished, as is required.

In an ideal world those most stringent regulations should not be necessary but, clearly, some practices at producer and processor level fall a long way short of the ideal. I want to see the good name of Irish producers and processors generally vindicated but I [682] have never maintained that there are not individual breaches of the relevant controls. I want to ensure particularly that what has become current in this House on the part of Members of this House over the past month will not apply to the good, honest, honourable farmers or processors by way of this new idea of guilt by association of which I particularly have been accused by Members of this House.
May I say to The Workers Party, in response to Deputy De Rossa's remarks yesterday, that I have had no knowledge, and I am not required to have knowledge, that the sugar Acts concerned do not give me, as Minister, any statutory authority to have any knowledge of any of the events or incidents to which the Deputy referred. Let me put on the record that I have not the statutory power to intervene but if, as a consequence of all we inquire into, it seems that that power should be given to the Minister, let me assure this House and the people generally, I will take it. If that is the reason Deputy De Rossa said yesterday that I should resign - because, as the Deputy himself put it so well, even when I have nothing about which to be guilty it would seem that I have - let me say to Deputy De Rossa and those beside him that it is in sharp contrast with him and his lot because he and they have the capacity - when they have a lot about which to be guilty - to give the impression that they are the guardians of all that is good, holy and moral.

I would prefer to look somewhat uneasy when I have nothing about which to be ashamed, than be like them who, by virtue of their association with the long persecuting authorities of eastern Europe and their totalitarian states, can practise, as they practise so well, the big lie which is no part of democracy here or elsewhere.

So the members of The Workers' Party can smile and look relaxed despite the guilt which should be eating their innards.

I might say to Deputy Deasy opposite that I should have expected a little more from Fine Gael. They claim to be the ones who constructed the democratic foundations of this State. If Deputy Deasy knows about the sugar Act, he will know that I do not have the authority he says I have. He blamed me for getting rid of an eminent public servant because he had voted against the closure of the sugar factory in Thurles.

The decision to close Thurles took place ten months after that gentleman retired. That is a measure of the slander which Deputy Deasy has determined to engage in, even in the face of fact. If the Deputy is prepared to use lies to make his case, there is really cause for concern. I am glad Deputy Deasy has now withdrawn, if not directly, the statements of falsehood which have been his stock in trade.

