asked the Minister for Agriculture if he has received representations from county committees of agriculture requesting him to take such steps as may be necessary to ensure that a fair price will be paid to farmers for oats this year, and, if so, if he will state what action he proposes to take.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Price of Oats.
The terms of recent resolutions passed by county committees of agriculture regarding oats are in the nature of recommendations to the effect that imports of grain should be so regulated as to have no detrimental effect on the market for home-grown oats.
As I have already indicated in reply to a question from Deputy Ormonde on the 15th March last, I am not prepared to fix prices for oats but there will certainly be a profitable market for all that is produced provided the producer is prepared to sell them converted into live stock or live-stock products whenever this course appears most profitable; in which connection it may be well to mention that under the oats purchase scheme operated in 1948-49 season out of a total estimated production of 794,000 tons of oats only 19,000 tons were offered for sale under the scheme to Grain Importers Limited.