asked the Minister for Finance if he will state the total amount received by the farming community by way of grants, subsidies, relief of rates, special schemes, etc., and which may be regarded as State contribution towards lowering the cost of production in agriculture or improving the farmers' productive capacity.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Farming Community and State Contributions.
I estimate that the total amount to be disbursed from the Exchequer in the present financial year, and which may properly be regarded as directed to strengthening the farmers' productive capacity or the lowering of their costs of production by way of grants, subsidies, relief of rates, special schemes, etc., will be of the order of £10,000,000. This figure does not include costs of administration apart from the provision of certain professional and technical assistance, the cost of agricultural education and kindred services, the cost of administration of certain statutes, the loss of interest to the Exchequer on the interest-free loans issued in 1947 for the purchase of cattle and sheep, the proposed expenditure on the land reclamation project, estimated to cost £4.9 millions a year, nor the benefit to the farmers of the remission of one-half the pre-1922 land annuities, which is estimated at £1,500,000. No account has been taken of the extent to which the farming community might be regarded as being subsidised in the prices fixed for native wheat and beet in so far as these prices are in excess of world prices and are reflected in the flour and sugar subsidies, nor of any moneys paid or services rendered to the farming community in common with the rest of the community or which are not readily identifiable, e.g., housing grants, social services, wages paid to forestry workers and Gaeltacht Services workers and benefits accruing from the operation of the Local Loans Fund, Transition Development Fund and the Road Fund.
Arising out of the Minister's reply, can the Minister state the total proportion of national and local taxation contributed by the agricultural community?
That is a separate question.
It is a separate question and the Deputy should not press for an answer.
I shall press for an answer.