asked the Minister for Agriculture if he has received a motion from the County Carlow Committee of Agriculture requesting that a minimum price for bacon pigs be fixed at £9 per live cwt. to the producer and whether he proposes to arrange accordingly.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Price of Pigs.
The answer to the first part of the Deputy's question is in the affirmative and, to the second part, in the negative.
Is the Minister aware that practical farmers and experts, who have gone closely into the figures for the cost of producing pigs, have found that at the present time it is impossible to feed pigs at a profit and, in the average case, pigs can only be produced, having regard to the present cost of production, at a dead loss?
I think the Deputy will agree with me that July and August are habitually known as the hungry months. If he and the experts and the practical farmers can have the patience to wait until these months are over, they will find, I hope, that the feeding-stuffs position will permit of the truly profitable operation of the pig industry at a reasonable level.
Can the Minister give any assurance that the prices of foodstuffs will be reduced in the coming months?
Can the Deputy give me a definite assurance that everybody in and about Berlin will behave themselves during the next few months?