Yates lobbies Commission over deal to cut £103m beef fines

THE Minister for Agriculture, in Brussels for a farm ministers' meeting, yesterday took the opportunity to continue Ireland's lobbying for a reduction in its £103 million beef fines.

Mr Yates met the Irish Commissioner, Mr Padraig Flynn, and provided the Commission with new evidence of tighter enforcement procedures now in place.

A deal to reduce the fines, levied on Ireland at the maximum rate of 10 per cent, is being brokered in the Commission at meetings of an inter service committee chaired by the Secretary General of the Commission, Sir David Williamson.

It is understood that there is strong resistance to a reduction from the Commissioner with responsibility for the fight against fraud, Ms Anita Gradin, who is concerned that any relief to Ireland will be used as a precedent by others.

Mr Yates said that the levying of the fine at the maximum level was not fair to Ireland as it neither took account of the country's demonstrable willingness to put new safeguards in place, or of the huge proportion of GNP that the fine represented.

A Commission decision is expected on March 6th and is likely to be based on an inter service agreement due to be reached later this week. Mr Yates said that the Government still reserved the right to take the issue to the European Court.

He criticised claims made last week by Mr Des O'Malley TD that the Irish position had been undermined by the failure of the authorities to sue beef factories for the recovery of losses. Mr Yates said that the issue, which poses legal problems in Ireland, had never been raised in Brussels, which took the view that this was a problem lord Dublin.

Pressed on what he would regard as an acceptable settlement, Mr Yates said that a reduction to £28 million would be a "just outcome".

At the meeting of ministers Mr Yates again raised concerns about the cuts in beef export refunds and warned that Irish support for the farm price package, which will be approved in June, would be dependent on adjustments in the slaughter premium.