Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Fruit and Vegetable Imports.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries if he will state in respect of apples, tomatoes, onions, soft fruit pulp, grass seed and other vegetables (a) the present quota restrictions on imports to the Republic and (b) the present rate of customs duty or tariff; and if he will give details of specific arrangements where the principle of reduction of tariff by five equal steps from December, 1973, to December, 1977, is departed from.
Comment on this
As the reply is in the form of a detailed statement, I propose, with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, to circulate it with the Official Report.
Following is the statement:
First Part of Question:
NOTE: Imports of the products to which quantitative controls apply are permitted under licence to such extent and at such time as adequate home produced supplies are not available and, in the case of tomatoes, for a relatively small annual quantity as provided for under the Free Trade Area Agreement. That Agreement also provides for certain duty concessions on specified quantities of apples and ryegrass seed imported from the UK.
Second Part of Question:
The arrangements for reducing our duties on fruits and vegetables in the context of EEC are set out in paragraph 166 of the Appendix to the White Paper on the Accession of Ireland to the European Communities.
The special arrangements for the application of a compensatory amounts system to apples and tomatoes are set out in paragraph 167 of that Appendix. The compensatory amounts, which will apply wherever they are higher than our customs duties, will be phased out by means of five equal annual reductions, commencing on 1st January, 1974; they will operate only in the periods from end of August to end of the following May for apples and from June to November for tomatoes.
Reduction of the duty on ryegrass seed will be phased in accordance with the timetable referred to at (c) in paragraph 124 of the Appendix, i.e., five equal reductions, which will take place on 1st July in 1973, on 1st January in 1974, 1975 and 1976; and on 1st July in 1977.