asked the Minister for Lands and Agriculture whether he is aware that a number of County Committees of Agriculture have passed resolutions expressing a desire to have presented to the Tariff Commission an application for a tariff on imported barley and malt into the Saorstát; and whether his Department will issue a general circular setting out procedure as to the taking of evidence, etc.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - APPLICATION FOR TARIFF ON BARLEY AND MALT.
I am aware that several County Committees of Agriculture have passed a resolution in favour of a tariff on imported barley and malt. I observe, however, that the Agricultural Committees of at least two of the counties in which barley is largely grown did not pass such resolution when it was submitted to them by another County Committee of Agriculture. The Secretary of the Tariff Commission will supply applicants for tariffs with a copy of the regulations relating, inter alia, to the form and manner in which submissions should be made and evidence given to the Commission. I may point out, however, that the funds administered by County Committees of Agriculture can be expended only in accordance with the provisions of the Agriculture and Technical Instruction (Ireland) Act, 1899, and that it would appear that the payment of fees to the Tariff Commission and of the expenses of witnesses appearing before that Commission is outside the scope of that Act; that, therefore, such payments could not be made out of the funds at the disposal of County Committees of Agriculture.
Is the Minister aware that in the Official Report of March 2nd the Minister for Finance is reported as having made the following statement:
"If two or three County Committees from the barley-growing counties submitted an application for a tariff on barley, I would consider them sufficiently representative to allow their application to go to the Tariff Commission. I would take a liberal view of their representative character, provided that they made a definite application for a tariff on one article or on a group of articles.
That is so. I do not think there is anything in my answer inconsistent with that.
Would not the Minister consider that the application should be referred to the Tariff Commission by the Minister for Finance under Section 2?
I think so. If three county committees join together to put up such an application I think it would be easy to arrange. I think there is no reason why it should not be arranged that the Tariff Commission would hear them, provided other conditions were carried out. But the point I am concerned with is that under the Act of 1899, setting up the Department of Agriculture, I think as a legal matter that the joint funds of the committees cannot be used for the purpose of paying the fees. The fees, of course, are small, and they would have to be paid by the applicants themselves, but I presume they will form some sort of an organisation for making the application.
Would the Government be prepared to remit the fee in this case, in view of the special character of the bodies from which the application comes?
I do not know whether under the Act there is power to remit the fees.
In view of the demands of several of these Committees of Agriculture, which represent a large volume of opinion in the country, would not the Minister be prepared to do something? There are demands from several counties regarding the importation of foreign malt and barley. Is the Minister going to do anything as regards these appeals?
Is the Minister aware that there is no necessity for a tariff on barley, unless the duty on spirits and beer is reduced?