asked the Minister for Agriculture whether he has caused the accounts of the committee of five, set up by him to purchase meat for the City of Dublin audited and, if so, whether he will have the report of the auditor laid on the Table of the House.
Ceisteanna.—Questions. Oral Answers. - Dublin Meat Purchase Committee.
My Department is keeping in close touch with the operations of the Emergency Meat Supply Committee and the prices at which meat is supplied to victuallers are subject to revision from time to time. A revised list of prices was published in the daily Press on 17th instant.
I do not propose to arrange that an auditor's report on the operations of the committee is laid on the Table of the Dáil.
Does the Minister propose to have the accounts audited?
Yes.
Have they been audited yet?
They have been for the first week, but I have not got the report so far.
When the Minister sees the report, will he be prepared to put the aggregate figure before the House?
We will see when the whole thing is over.
Surely the Minister will agree that, if wide discretion is given to him to deal with a special emergency, he should keep the House informed as to how the measures he is taking are achieving the purpose that we all have in mind? If this emergency scheme that he has set up has the imperfections in it that it is capable of being turned into a ramp to plunder the public, he ought to let the House judge, so that effective steps can be taken to eliminate that feature of it, if it exists and, if it does not exist, to silence the popular rumour that it is there.
The gross amount will have to be laid before the Dáil at some time. I suppose that allegations of excessive profits have been made.
Would it not be better to stop that type of allegation before it becomes too widespread, particularly if the figures give the lie to statements that excessive profits are being made? Is it not better to publish the figures and silence that type of rumour? On the other hand, if the rumour is correct, is it not better to warn those responsible for the scandal that they must stop and, if they do not, that public opinion will force them to stop?
It is difficult to publish portion of the figures; we must wait until the whole thing is completed.
What is the use of shutting the door when the horse has gone?
It was announced in the newspapers on 17th March that there was an interim reduction of prices to the victuallers, a small reduction.