§ Mr. Deakinsasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the type and estimated annual cost of the special grants to agriculture designed to maintain employment in Northern Ireland.
§ Mr. Peter MillsThe details of the Special Employment in Agriculture Schemes now in operation are as follows:
Farmers Union and the Northern Ireland Pigs Marketing Board about the arrangements for pig meat during the transitional period of entry into the European Economic Community; and what action he has taken.
§ Mr. Peter MillsMy predecessor received a deputation from the Pigs Marketing Board and the Ulster Farmers' Union on 18th September. The industry expressed concern that the transitional arrangements might have a harmful effect on the production and processing of pigs in Northern Ireland.
The importance to the Northern Ireland pig industry of preserving fair competition, I can assure the hon. Gentleman, is very much in the Government's mind, and every effort will be made to ensure that the temporary arrangements which will operate during the transitional period do not lead to distortions in trade.