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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 5 May 1943

Vol. 89 No. 18

Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Dublin Potato Supplies.

asked the Minister for Agriculture what steps he is taking to make adequate supplies of potatoes available for the people of Dublin.

I am in consultation with the Dublin potato trade about arrangements which should facilitate the purchase of available surplus stocks to meet the needs of consumers in Dublin. My Department has made exhaustive inquiries in order to ascertain all possible sources of supply, and the information obtained has been communicated to the Dublin potato trade. Special transport facilities are being afforded for the assembling in various rural centres of potatoes intended for the Dublin market, and, in consultation with the Department of Supplies, arrangements for the equitable distribution of the potatoes obtainable are being worked out. While I am hopeful that the supply position in Dublin will be improved, I am not so optimistic as to expect that the area's requirements of potatoes can be met to the full up to the end of this month. As from the beginning of June, however, when the new potatoes come on the market, I expect to be able to have in operation a scheme under which the needs of the Dublin area will be fully met.

Can the Minister state the normal weekly requirement of potatoes in Dublin City? Can he state further the total quantity of potatoes in the country? Can he indicate how far short of normal requirements are the supplies of potatoes available in Dublin at the moment?

The requirements in Dublin City are about 1,000 tons a week. It is very hard to say what is the amount of potatoes in the country, because we cannot get a census of the quantity on each farm. It is estimated that about 3,000,000 tons were produced last year. It is doubtful, from the survey made, if we can get enough to supply Dublin's requirements in full until the new potatoes come in.

Has any survey been made recently by the Department as to the amount of potatoes in the country?

Is it a fact that a recent survey has revealed that there are available only 6,000 tons?

May I ask the Minister when was the survey, to which he refers, made, and on what does he base the statement that he expects to have a sufficiency of potatoes available early in June? Where is he going to get the new potatoes from early in June, and at what price does he expect to get them?

A survey was made within the last week or so. I do not suggest that it was a very minute survey.

Why was it not made earlier?

There was a survey made five or six weeks ago—a very full survey. With regard to the statement about potato supplies early in June, that is based on the production of new potatoes last year and the amount exported last year. I assume that the new potatoes will be as early this year as they were last year.

Assuming that the new potatoes will be available in the first week in June—and that is a very big assumption—what price will they be and in what volume will they be supplied?

They will be available in sufficient volume to supply the Dublin market—that is, if they are equal to the production of last year. The price will have to be worked out.

Can the Minister say, as a result of the survey made by his Department, whether the shortage of potatoes is due to a shortage of supply generally, or to lack of transport?

I should put it as 90 per cent. due to a shortage generally in the country, and perhaps a small shortage due to lack of transport.

That being so, I think the Minister should explain to the House and to the people of Dublin, in view of the fact that he knew there was a shortage of supplies—I could understand it if it was due to a shortage of transport that came on suddenly—what steps he took to prevent the present situation arising. What explanation has he to offer for it?

Will the Minister say when was responsibility in this matter of the supply of potatoes handed over to the Department of Agriculture by the Department of Supplies?

That, of course, is a question that might be put to the Taoiseach under the Ministers and Secretaries Act. I think that, generally speaking, as regards food supplies, such as potatoes, butter, meat and so on, the responsibility is on the Minister for Agriculture to see that they are brought to a particular place. Price is a matter for the Department of Supplies, and I should say that distribution is a matter on which the two Departments consult together.

Is the Minister aware that priority is being given to the carriage of this kind of traffic by the railways, and does he seriously suggest that proper railway facilities have been refused?

No. It is more a matter of getting the potatoes to the railways.

Is the Minister aware that the principal reason for the scarcity of potatoes this year is the fact that tens of thousands of potatoes last year were allowed to rot in the pits; that the farmers had such a surplus of potatoes that they found it impossible to dispose of them? Apparently, the Parliamentary Secretary, Deputy Ward, finds that the fact that the people in Dublin cannot get potatoes is a matter of amusement—a matter to laugh and sneer at.

The Parliamentary Secretary did not laugh or sneer at the shortage of potatoes, but he wonders how the Government could have prevented them from rotting in the pits.

No one sneered at the Deputy's statement.

Mr. Morrissey

The Minister for Supplies has no responsibility for this, and, ordinarily, we would say thank goodness. Is it not a fact that there was a huge surplus of potatoes in the country last year, that tens of thousands of them were allowed to rot in the pits and could not be disposed of? Is not that the real reason why farmers did not go into the production of potatoes this year?

The Deputy is becoming both speculative and metaphysical.

Mr. Byrne

When supplies of potatoes become available, will the Minister for Agriculture see to it that the most needy people will get them? If supplies are available within a reasonable distance of the city, will the Minister see that Army lorries are employed to bring them in?

I cannot answer for the Army.

Mr. Byrne

Will the Minister use his influence with the Army authorities to get the use of Army lorries to bring into the city any potatoes that may be available within a reasonable distance of it, and will he further see that such supplies will go to the most needy people? There are many people in the City of Dublin to-day who have no potatoes and are going hungry.

In November and December of last year farmers who had supplies of potatoes could get no sale for them. I advertised for sale ten or 15 tons of potatoes in the local papers, and could not get buyers for them. I had to feed them to pigs. There was no sale for potatoes at that time. The price of £3 per ton that was being offered for them would not cover the cost of taking them to the railway station at Mullingar. That was my position, and the position of a number of other farmers. I think that if the Minister were alive to his duty, as the Minister for Agriculture in England is, he would have made better provision. In England, even though the potatoes rot, the farmers there are being paid £10 an acre for the growing of them.

I think that if the Deputy looks up the prices paid on the Dublin market he will find that in November and December the potatoes produced here were selling at more than £3 a ton. I think the price at that time was £7 a ton.

Is the Minister aware that the Minister for the Co-ordination of Defensive Measures advised the people of Mayo to make ensilage out of their potatoes?

Last year?

I know that I was offered £3 a ton for my potatoes in December of last year. At that price it would not pay me to bring them to the railway station at Mullingar.

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