Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-12-12-Speech-3-410"
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"en.20071212.37.3-410"2
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"Mr President, once again we are here to debate the tagging of sheep. All I can say is that it is an awful pity that the Commission did not listen to us way back in the early days when we questioned what they were proposing then and advised them. I would say to Ms Miguélez Ramos: yes, we did make these speeches way back at the beginning when there was the discussion on tagging sheep. But unfortunately what we said was not listened to, even when we said it would be unworkable.
So we did warn you and you would not listen. The reality is that sheep farmers could never afford the cost of electronic tagging because they are receiving less now for their lambs than they were 20 years ago! You tell me of any other part of any other business of any other industry that is asked to put out tremendous expenditure and receive less for what they are producing than they did 20 years ago. I know this is the case from personal experience.
The present system we have is sufficient. So, let us kick this very much into the long grass for the future. I can accept coming back and looking at it in 2009. Maybe, over that period of time, the electronic tagging technology, which at the moment is far too expensive, may, like many other areas of technology, become more affordable with a combination of lower costs and better returns to the sheep producer. Then we could examine this all over again.
The big challenge to sheep production is to achieve profitability and when that happens we can move forward with confidence. I must say it was with great interest that I heard Ms Miguélez Ramos and Mr Stevenson having an exchange of views over sheep because they usually have an exchange of views over fish, which is totally different! It is probably even more argumentative than over sheep as they are doing tonight.
But for sheep farmers, receiving such small rewards for hard work, as has been outlined by Mr Parish, makes this is a very difficult job. There are thousands of sheep on the top of mountains for all of the summertime. You try and catch them; you try and tag them; you try and follow them. I have to say to the Commissioner: I just wish you would send some of your officials who draw up some of these plans out to these areas and see what the sheep farmers have to put up with, see what they have to go through. Then you might understand how we feel and why we put forward these views.
Yes, let us do it on a voluntary basis. Let us do it when we are ready. Let us move at a proper pace and let us take it at a speed which we can afford."@en1
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