I move:—
Go ndeontar suim ná raghaidh thar £198,000, chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31adh lá de Mhárta, 1928, chun Congnamh Airgid d'íoc ar scór Siúicre Bhiatais (Uimh. 37 de 1925).
That a sum not exceeding £198,000 be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1928, for payment of Subsidy in respect of Beet Sugar (No. 37 of 1925).
The provision in the estimate is for a total production of slightly over 13,000 tons. It is well to say at this stage that it may be that that sum will not be sufficient and that an additional sum will have to be provided. It is not possible to say what that additional sum will be. It will depend partly on the yield of this year's beet crop and on the sugar-content of the beet actually supplied to the factory. The total amount paid by way of subsidy last year was £181,502 4s. 9d. That was less than the total sum voted, including both the original and supplementary estimates. The subsidy was paid on 11,979½ tons of sugar. There is no limit on the amount of sugar that the factory may produce and on which a subsidy may be paid during the first three years. But in the two years following, the subsidy will only be paid on 10,000 tons of sugar, and in any one of the last five years on 15,000 tons of sugar, but it will not be paid during the whole period on more than 125,000 tons. Therefore, if it is paid on more than 12,500 tons in any one of the first three years, the amount on which the subsidy may be paid in subsequent years will be reduced.
There is no doubt that the success of the factory was greatly facilitated by the fact that during the first years there was no limit on the amount on which the subsidy might be paid, so that the factory was able to go out and do its best to get growers. For a long time it did not seem as if it would be able to get sufficient growers, but it was able to go all out for getting growers and was not compelled to make any nice calculations as to whether the acceptance of growers would lead to exceeding some limited figure or not.