End of Irish sugar production looms
But a spokesman for Agriculture and Food Minister Mary Coughlan said the deal, which includes a €310 million financial package for Ireland, should provide at least two more seasons of sugar beet growing here.
The Irish Farmers Association (IFA) disputed this statement and predicted that the outcome would wipe out sugar beet growing.
Greencore, the sole Irish sugar processor, said it welcomed the improved phasing of the new pricing arrangements. It will evaluate all of the implications of this agreement for the competitiveness of its sugar business before determining the best route forward.
It said: “It is the intention of Greencore Sugar to continue to produce sugar and service all of its customer requirements for as long as it is commercially viable.”
The €140m industry has 3,700 beet growers countrywide and 140 permanent and 80 seasonal employees at Greencore Mallow, the country’s last remaining processing plant.
The industry also supports the livelihoods of a large number of road haulage contractors and service providers. The reform deal involves a cut in the price for sugar of 36%, and a corresponding reduction in the minimum price of sugar beet over four years.
Growers will receive an additional compensation - €121m over the next seven years - in direct decoupled payments. There is a further special once-off payment of almost €44m exclusively for growers if sugar beet production ceases in Ireland. In addition, there is a €145m restructuring package for Greencore.
Farmers, machinery contractors and employees will all have to be taken into account in any restructuring plan. Ms Coughlan said the final package was a major improvement on the Commission’s original proposals which could have precipitated the abrupt demise of the sugar sector in Ireland.
She said the negotiations were very difficult given the severity of the commission’s original proposals but the final package provides critical options for the industry in terms of managing change.
In what he described as a black day for Irish tillage farmers, IFA president John Dillon said the compensation being offered to growers was totally inadequate.
He said it was untenable for Ms Coughlan to hand over the bulk of the €145m compensation to Greencore, when she had presided over the wipe out of the country’s 3,700 beet growers.
IFA Sugar Beet chairman Jim O’Regan said growers would only produce beet for a margin and Greencore would have to substantially increase the premium it currently pays to make up the shortfall in the EU price if production was to continue next year.
Ned O’Keeffe TD, the former Fianna Fáil Food Minister, was ruled out of order in the Dáil when he attempted to raise “the demise of the sugar beet industry” and Ireland South MEP Simon Coveney said Ms Coughlan has lost the battle to keep the Irish sugar industry afloat.
