asked the Minister for Supplies whether he is aware of the fact that consumers in many areas are experiencing difficulty in obtaining normal supplies of sugar, and are being informed by traders that there is a shortage of sugar; and if he will state what is the present position in regard to sugar supplies within the country.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Sugar Supplies.
I have received representations from various areas to the effect that traders and consumers have experienced difficulty in obtaining supplies of sugar. All such complaints are investigated and when found justified, arrangements are made to relieve the position. There are supplies of sugar available to meet normal requirements and this has been the position since the beginning of the emergency. To ensure equitable distribution of stocks, however, arrangements were made to regulate supplies to wholesalers on the basis of their normal trade previous to the emergency, and any difficulties which have arisen were due solely to abnormal sales to individual traders and consumers. The dislocation thus caused should, however, have disappeared before the end of the present month, within which period the four sugar factories will, it is expected, have commenced production.
Is the Minister aware of the fact that even at the present moment considerable difficulty is being experienced by a large number of consumers in obtaining quantities of. sugar? Families whose normal consumption is six or seven lbs. a week are being offered one or two lbs. a week and even then they are finding it extremely difficult to get that limited amount Will the Minister take steps to ensure, either by rationing or otherwise, that working-class families in particular will get adequate supplies for their present requirements? The present position is most unsatisfactory.
Conscious as he is of the difficulties that undoubtedly exist, will the Minister consider the question of rationing sugar and fixing its price ?
It would be a foolish step to introduce a rationing scheme for sugar on the basis of a purely temporary dislocation having regard to the very heavy cost which such a rationing would impose on the Exchequer. The temporary dislocation due to the abnormal purchase of sugar by individuals and the hoarding of that sugar will have disappeared by the end of this month.
Does the Minister realise the difficulty of the average retail distributor in determining what is an equitable supply for each of his customers when he cannot have any knowledge of the number of children in each family? Two lbs. of sugar might be a perfectly sufficient supply for a man and his wife alone, whereas it is ridiculously inadequate for a man and his wife and seven children. The difficulty of the retailer in differentiating between two customers who may be together at the counter becomes almost impossible and involves the distributor in a, long explanation to one customer to whom he only gives two lbs., while in her presence he gives half a stone to another customer. If both customers had a sugar card with a stipulated amount set out they could claim it as a right and get it without any fuss or bother and the merchant would be in a position to claim as a right from his wholesale suppliers the amount of sugar indicated on the total number of cards registered with him.
A sugar rationing scheme would cost the State about £100,000 a year. It is unnecessary to undertake that expenditure when the facts are that any dislocation, caused by panic buying at the beginning of the emergency, will have disappeared in the very near future. By next week the four sugar factories will have commenced production and there will be no difficulty in supplying all demands for sugar.
Has the Minister examined the question of cost, because I cannot imagine that a rationing scheme would cost anything like the figure he stated? So far as one aspect is concerned, rationing could be carried on without any expense to the Government. The shops would gladly print their own sugar cards and would gladly co-operate with the Government and the Civic Guards to allot the sugar registered with them and do all that end of the business cheerfully in order to avoid the annoyance caused in trying to distinguish between one customer and another. I think if the Minister consults the trade he may find available a ready, voluntary co-operation which would relieve the Exchequer of the bulk of the administrative cost of such a scheme.
The quantity of sugar that went into consumption on the 1st September this year was substantially higher than the amount last year.
There is no real shortage.
There is no shortage at all.
At a meeting yesterday of the Confectionery Trade Board an employers' representative informed the chairman of the board that he found it so difficult to obtain sugar for his requirements that if he did not get it quickly he would he compelled to lay off 400 employees.
I doubt very much if that statement was made or, if it was, made, that it is true.
The employers representative made that statement.
The employers' representative should know that the place to make that statement was not at a meeting of the trade board but to an officer of the Ministry of Supplies.
The man was not able to get any supplies for his requirements.
That is not true.
Would the Minister give an assurance that if he were furnished with a list of people who want sugar for carrying on business he would see that they would get their supplies?
I do not know of any business concern in the country that is genuinely unable to get sugar. There is no scarcity of sugar. There is plenty of sugar available. The only reason we have control is that people have been inclined to hoard it under a misunderstanding largely created by an injudicious advertisement published by a certain firm.
This is a very important matter creating great public anxiety. I agree with the Minister entirely. My experience is that there is no shortage of sugar—I am speaking now of retail distribution—but is the Minister aware that there is a very genuine difficulty in allocating supplies issuing out? For instance, a large part of the persons to whom Deputy McGovern refers would be small shopkeepers in rural Ireland who buy their supplies from a wholesaler in the town. It is practically impossible to determine what is an equitable share of the sugar available for each of these small shopkeepers. If the Minister would sanction or consider any system of permanent allocation these difficulties would disappear very rapidly. I think the Minister should inquire further into the problem of administrative costs. I do not think they would he anything like what he contemplates. Such a scheme would dissipate this difficulty overnight.
Why should we do it? The only reason for any temporary dislocation is that the wholesalers got two months' supply of sugar and sold most of it at the beginning of the two months, thus leaving themselves short at the end of that period. That period is now over. They can now get ample supplies to meet their normal requirements for the future and, consequently, there should be no difficulty whatever in meeting all demands for sugar unless there is a tendency on the part of some people to buy abnormal quantities or on the part of traders to restrict sales.
asked the Minister for Supplies if he will state whether he has received complaints regarding the shortage of sugar in the Kimmage, Dublin, area and the difficulties experienced by persons with large families in obtaining adequate supplies of sugar, and what steps he has taken or proposes to take to remedy the position.
Complaints regarding difficulties in obtaining supplies of sugar in the Kimmage, Dublin, area have been received in my Department. These complaints have been investigated and steps have been taken to ensure that the reasonable requirements of consumers in this area are being met.
Arising out of the Minister's answer and the statement he made previously to the effect that——
Question No. 14 has been dealt with.
I am not dealing with No. 14. Arising out of the Minister's answer now and the statement which he made previously that adequate supplies of sugar will now be available, may we take it that consumers will find no difficulty this week and in subsequent weeks in obtaining their normal supplies of sugar?
I did not say that.
Are we to understand that consumers are going to experience the same difficulty during the next month as they have in the past month ?
I have not said that either. There will go out to the commercial traders who distribute sugar enough sugar to supply the normal requirements of the country.
If we are going to have a lop-sided system of distribution by retailers, are we to understand that the poorer people, who have no influence with their grocers, are not going to be able to get adequate supplies, and that the Minister is going to do nothing to see that they will get an adequate supply regularly?
Is the Minister aware that a sweet factory which opened last July was unable to get sugar in Cork for the past three weeks?
I am not aware of it. The manufacturer had an easy remedy. Why did he not avail of it?
What is it?
He should have let me know that he could not get sugar.
But he did so.
Then, if he did not get it, he must have had no just claim.