Irish move against lamb

Press, 4 July 1978, Page 16

Irish move against lamb

By

SELWYN PARKER

in Dublin

Irish farmers and French agriculture officials have joined in a behind-the-scenes alliance to block — or at least limit — British lamb sales into the rich French market.

The fear in Ireland is that British access will cut down the enormous new profits gained in the French market since Christmas. At this stage, it seems, Irish export sales have quadrupled since France, under pressure, dropped its quota barrier for lamb imports. And French officials worry that British access, complicated bv sales of New Zealand lamb in Britain, could create a sheepmeat glut. Meanwhile, the E.E.C. has threatened France with legal action at the Court of Justice in Luxemburg unless

her Government drops its quota barrier against British lamb imports. Since January, when Ireland crashed the French barriers, France should have also lifted the quota on Britain because E.E.C. policy demands free access to the markets of member countries.

It is obviously in Ireland’s interest to keep British meat out, or at the very least to delay its entry into French butcher shops. The Irish Agriculture Minister, Mr Jim Gibbons, will fight hard for some kind of bureacratic machinery that will ensure both high prices for Irish farmers and free access for Irish lamb in France.

Although Irish producers are jubilant about the bonanza of the French market, housewives are not nearly so happy. The price

of lamb has nearly doubled within Ireland, even though the cuts on sale are no longer choice quality. A leg of lamb is now about SNZ2.6O a pound. Top-quality lamb goes to France. Domestic sales have dropped by one third. The value of the French market, especially in spring lamb, is obvious. Compared with 1977 when Ireland was admitted only on a quota, exports now run at 4000 tonnes as against 2500 tonnes at the same time last year. Sales have quadrupled from $5 million to $2O million. It is understood that the E.E.C. Agriculture Commissioner, Mr Finn Gundelach, is anxious to devise a formula which would give Britain at least token access without destroying the French market.