asked the Minister for Agriculture whether he is aware that there is serious dissatisfaction amongst the associations of supervisors of cow-testing owing to the meagre salaries paid to them and the insecurity of their positions generally, and whether he will state what steps, if any, are being taken by him to implement the statement made by him at the Dairy Congress in Mallow on 1st November last in connection with the provision of better salaries and conditions of employment for those supervisors.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Cow-Testing Supervisors' Salaries.
The answer to the first part of the question is "yes". In his statement at the Dairy Shorthorn Breeders' Congress at Mallow on the 1st November, the Minister for Agriculture outlined a revised scheme of milk recording which, if put into operation, would enable improved rates of remuneration to be paid to cow-testing supervisors. The Minister put these proposals before representatives of the dairying industry present on that occasion and asked them to consider whether they were prepared to co-operate with him in putting into effect a scheme based broadly on the lines indicated by him. Up to the present, the Minister has received no indication as to the response of the dairying industry.
What steps have been taken to contact the co-operative societies in relation to this matter?
So far as I am aware, the Minister has taken no steps, because the next move lay with the representatives of the dairying industry.
Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that 73 of these men have only from 45/- to 60/- per week and, surely, there must be dissatisfaction amongst them in these circumstances?
It was precisely because the Minister was aware of the low rates of pay that he put these proposals before the congress in Mallow.
That is the Kathleen Mavourneen style.