My motion is:—
"Having regard to the fact that foodstuffs produced in Ireland may be bought more cheaply in England than in Ireland; and having regard to the fact that the general fall in price to the producer of such foodstuffs, and of other commodities necessary to livelihood, has not been accompained by a similar fall in price to the consumer; and having regard to the probability that these disproportions are the cause of much discontent, and are frustrating the development of industry on a reasonable basis of comfort to the worker and economic profit to the employer; to move, that a Committee be at once appointed, to be known as ‘The Cost of Living Committee,' and that the terms of reference be as follows:—To set forth a list of articles or commodities necessary to livelihood; to enquire into the prices available for such articles or commodities to the producer; to enquire into the prices being paid for such articles or commodities by the consumer; and to report if there be any undue disproportion between these two scales of prices, and, if so, to recommend the best measures to be taken to end that disproportion." I venture to say that there are probably very few matters in Ireland to-day of greater importance than this. The matter has been brought to my attention by a number of my constituents, people who represent, not one particular class of society, but who represent all classes of society; by those who are generally known as employers and those who are known as employees, each set of whom agree that this is possibly the very center of a great deal of discontent in Ireland to-day. I have been studious to avoid here imposing or implying any blame upon any body or bodies. I merely refer to the acknowledged facts and I suggest that a Committee should be appointed, or somebody should be appointed, or some organisation or organisations should be created to enquire into these things and to make a report to this Dáil, as to the best method of getting rid of them. It would be very easy to distribute blame. It would be, I think, possibly unjust to distribute blame. I would not like it to be said any middleman inferred that I suggested, that he was profiteering at the expense of the community. It may well be true; it may be untrue; we have no means at present of discovering whether it is true or whether it is untrue, and what we do want to discover is what is the cause of it— whether the middleman is at fault, whether the railways are at fault, or who is at fault, and what exactly the cause is that you have here at present demands for a scale of wages declining back to what they had been in the pre-war period, because of competition elsewhere that is being maintained in some countries on that scale, whereas at the present moment it is impossible for human beings to live either at that scale or at double that scale. It is a very familiar thing in all mechanics, and although it would be wrong to consider society as a mechanism, there is much that resembles mechanism about it, and it is a familiar principle in mechanics—that once a machine has got into the habit of a certain form or speed of action it is very difficult to bring it down to another speed or to bring it up to a higher speed. These things happen slowly. And it has happened that since 1914 circumstances have arisen in this world at large, particularly in Europe, where the whole scale of prices has steadily risen and at the same time, though not so fast, the scale of wages has risen. They rose out of proportion to one another; they are now falling out of proportion to one another, and the effect to-day is that employers are finding it quite impossible to conduct their businesses, because they are compelled to pay their employees a scale of wages that their employees insist is out of all proportion to the cost of living. I was spoken to upon this matter about a week ago by a very considerable employer of labour in Dublin, a man of great influence, of understanding and sympathy. He stated to me that he was compelled to thrust his workmen down to a scale of wages that he knew they could not live on, and he admitted it frankly in defence that they could not live on it, but said "I am not considering their livelihood; I am bound to consider my business. I am sorry for them." He says "something has happened, some part of the machinery has ceased to work in harmony with some other part, with the consequence that I am compelled, if my business must be a paying business and not a philanthropic concern, to insist on a scale of wages that I know is not just." And, putting it from the employer's point of view, he stated that if the prices that were available in 1914 were available to-day, with the same wages, workmen would be better off than they are to-day at the scale of wages that is available as against the prices that are available. I have taken advantage, in view of this debate that was arising here, to have compiled for me some figures that I will read to the Dáil that may be useful to the Dáil These are figures actually compiled within the past 48 hours. They have been taken in the Dublin markets as representing the wholesale rates—they have been taken as representative of a very large number of shops—not high-class shops, not shops in areas in which people live who could afford to pay better prices, but taken from shops in the poorer districts, and I will compare one set against the other, in order that this Dáil may follow exactly what is the huge difference to which I have referred. There is an item of commodity known as "cowheel," the price in the Metropolitan Market was 4½d. a lb; the price in the shops was 1s. to 1s. 6d. The market price for heifer and bullock beef was 7d./9d., the price in the shops was 1s. 4d. to 1s. 8d., and in that connection I may remark in passing that the 1914 price was 4½d./8d.; the price of mutton in the market was from 9d./10d., the price in the shops is 1s. 4d. to 1s. 10d. Under the head of pigs and pork, the top price was 10d. for pork, the shop price is 1s. 6d. The price for bacon is 2s. to 2s. 6d. per lb; the price in pre-war for the same bacon was 7d./8d., for the quality now available at 2s., and 10d. for the quality now available at 2s. 6d. So I could go down the list. Let me take another class of goods —vegetables per st., 4d. and 6d. in the markets, 1s. in the shops. Take the item milk: 1s. a gallon, rail paid, in Dublin 2s. 4d.; available in the shops at a pre-war price of 3d. against 7d. I suppose the discrepancy is much greater in respect of the price for vegetable and fruit than as regards other commodities. Yet in the market yesterday there were more vegetables and fruit than could be disposed of. These are serious facts, which I believe, most seriously affect the population of this country at large than possibly any other single fact to-day. They affect the whole question of employment because they affect the whole question of the profitable conduct of industry. The first item I set down here raised the question by one or two Deputies. I am prepared if any Deputy wishes to have particulars given to give the particulars of eggs and butter. Citizens in Dublin send to Liverpool for Irish butter, because they can buy it cheaper in Liverpool than they can in Dublin, and they regularly and consistently send to Liverpool for it. The question is not quite so simple as it may appear. It is not that there is profiteering in the shop that causes Irish butter to be had cheaper from Liverpool by inhabitants in Dublin than they can buy it in Dublin itself. The fault is not altogether with the shopkeepers. I know that there you touch on the very vexed question of freights and through freights, and a whole variety of other questions are raised in this. I therefore move this in order that the Committee should be appointed. Since I sent you in this I am not sure whether one Committee is the best way of getting this work done. I believe it may be necessary to create a number of Committees for each centre under the ægis and general control of one Committee of whichever Department of the Ministry it affects. The procedure I would suggest in regard to that is that the Minister for Industry and Commerce receives from day to day figures that come in from the country with regard to certain commodities, and an average figure is calculated on these. The average figure appears in the recent report of the Departmental Committee. As the reports come in from different parts of the country they can test these figures with the figure they declare to be a fair average. They should be in a position to state which part of the country is charged above the average. Dublin and Cork will be found to be charged too high. In Nenagh at the moment butter is almost invaluable, and milk is difficult to get for children. When any such place is discovered reference should be made to the Departmental Committee working in connection with the Department and the Local Committee, who would suggest ways and means and report back to the Central Committee, not for confirmation, and let the matter then come to the Local Committee, which would act with the Minister in question, who would be able to put before this Dáil the general facts, which the Dáil would be able to examine, and end this anomaly and remove this cog which is interfering with the smooth working of this machinery.
