asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is aware that the present price of turf imposes great hardship on poor people who have to purchase it in small lots and who, in some counties, cannot procure timber; and, if so, if he will consider having the price reduced for this winter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Price of Turf.
Any reduction in the retail price of turf in the non-turf area would, in present circumstances, involve an increase in the turf subsidy which, in the current financial year, is estimated to amount to not less than £1,200,000. I am not prepared to recommend an increased subsidy. As the Deputy is aware, the price of turf in the scheduled turf areas is not controlled.
Is the Minister aware that traders in turf for some time past have got 5/- per ton extra in respect of turf which they put into their yards prior to the winter, and that as a result many turf workers in the dumps are unemployed? The turf comes straight from the bogs in Kildare and Laoighis to the merchants' yards in Wexford and Enniscorthy, but instead of getting an advantage, the consumer is getting only inferior wet turf and the public view of the turf scheme is that it is daylight robbery, so far as the poor are concerned.
The Deputy is making a speech and not asking a supplementary question.
With regard to the Deputy's statement as to the turf which comes from Laoighis, I should like to inform him and the Minister that the turf coming from Laoighis is not of an inferior type.
The Deputy, I think, misunderstands an arrangement made under which turf merchants who store turf in their own yards in the summer for release in the winter months are allowed an extra 5/- per ton on the cost of that turf. That arrangement is obviously justifiable, as the expenses of putting the turf into ricks in the turf dumps and taking it from the dumps to the merchants' yards when required are considerably more than 5/- per ton, and furthermore the 5/- per ton allowed to the merchants is barely sufficient to cover the cost of storage and the wastage in storage of the turf in the merchants' yards.
Is the Minister aware that, notwithstanding the incentive to merchants and others, it is extremely difficult for any person in the city of Dublin to get dry turf?
I am not so aware.
Mr. Dockrell
The turf is not as wet as it was, but nevertheless it is still very mixed on many occasions—far too mixed in the opinion of the general consumer.
The turf available this year was saved in exceptional conditions and it probably will not be of as high a standard as last year when the weather was exceptionally good. Nevertheless, no turf is released for domestic use which is not of a suitable standard for domestic use.
Is the Minister aware that the lorries come down to Wexford and remain overnight out in the rain, and that the poor people are then given that turf in small lots of two stones and half a cwt.?
The only possible remedy for that situation is to have it not raining when the turf is travelling in lorries.