asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will state why occupiers of labourers' cottages have been refused the facilities to obtain seed potatoes through the agricultural overseers in West Cork, and whether it is proposed to make seed potatoes available through overseers to tenants of labourers' cottages.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Seeds for Labourers.
The seed distribution scheme operated in the congested districts is confined to smallholders who earn their living solely or mainly by farming on their own holdings, and is intended to enable them to provide themselves with a change of seed at prices within their reach. Cottiers and labourers having small plots of ground attached to their cottages are not, therefore, eligible to participate in the scheme. The limited funds available for this scheme would not allow of its extension to cottiers.
Is the Minister aware that the only opportunity occupiers of labourers' cottages have to procure seeds is through the county council loan scheme?
That is right.
Numbers of people who have no means other than unemployment assistance will find it hard to get two sureties to back their demands. Could the Minister devise some means by which seeds will be made available to such people, so that they will be in a position to utilise their plots on terms that they may reasonably be expected to meet?
I think the county council scheme is more suitable for those people. If they get seeds under the Department's scheme, they must pay cash. They can get seeds from the county councils on credit and I think that would be more suitable for unemployed men.
They may not be able to get sureties.
Getting seeds from the county council involves the payment of interest and I think a good many labourers would be prepared to pay a small amount of cash for the seeds if they were able to get them through the overscers of the Department. Will the Minister keep this matter in mind when he is dealing with the Bill that he proposes to introduce? I may assure the Minister that this is a real problem in the country.