I move:—
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £34,770 be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1956, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Office of the Minister for Agriculture, including certain Services administered by that Office, and for payment of certain Subsidies and sundry Grants-in-Aid.
The details are as follows:—
Under sub-head E (1)—£10,000—provision is made in a new item for the running expenses of a seed production farm at Backweston, Lucan, to extend the facilities for breeding and raising of pedigree strains of seeds of the principal agricultural crops leading up to schemes which have been inaugurated for the production of certified seed.
Sub-head E (6)—£25,000—is a new sub-head and provides for the establishment of a peat land experimental station at Glenamoy, County Mayo.
The House will recall that last year the Government carried out a full investigation into the plans and prospects of the statutory company entitled Min Fheir Teoranta which had been preparing for the production and sale of grass meal at Glenamoy, County Mayo. As a result of this investigation the Government came to the conclusion that other measures would prove of more lasting economic and social benefit to Bangor Erris and would contribute towards a solution of the general economic problems of the western region. The Government accordingly decided that the bog at Glenamoy should be developed by the Department of Agriculture and the Forestry Division of the Department of Lands working in close co-operation.
The Department of Agriculture is now undertaking comprehensive experiments to ascertain how best blanket bog can be reclaimed for agricultural use and applied to the creation of cultivable holdings in the West. The Forestry Division is carrying out a full-scale experiment in the afforestation of a tract of blanket bog. As regards cultivation, our object is to learn by properly conducted experiments the best and cheapest methods of drainage and of fertilising and the most suitable crops to be grown. To achieve this object a peat land experimental station is being established at Glenamoy. The station will include farm buildings, a laboratory and office unit and accommodation for the staff. The cost of the necessary buildings and certain equipment, estimated at £45,000, will be met from the National Development Fund. The running expenses of the station (including staff and manual workers) during the current financial year, to which sub-head E (6) of this Supplementary Estimate relates, are estimated at £25,000. This amount includes a sum of £12,423 8s. which was paid to Min Fheir Teoranta for the company's assets, including machinery and equipment, which were transferred to the Department of Agriculture on 30th August, 1955. A sum of £70,000 was included in the Industry and Commerce Vote for the current year to provide for grants to Min Fheir Teoranta to defray the capital expenses of the company.
Only £4,300 of that sum was issued prior to the termination of the Min Fheir activities and the commencement of operations by the Departments of Agriculture and Lands at Glenamoy, and there is thus a substantial saving on the Industry and Commerce Vote to offset the additional expenditure now being provided under this Vote. I should add that Min Fheir is in process of being wound-up and its cash balance on completion of the liquidation will be transferred to the Exchequer.
There was no interruption of work at Glenamoy as a result of the transfer of the interest of Min Fheir Teoranta to the Department and drainage operations and other preparatory work have been continued vigorously in preparation for the large-scale experiments which are being initiated. Eleven workers have been recruited by the Department of Agriculture in addition to the 29 men taken over from Min Fheir Teoranta and I understand that a further 23 men have been recruited by the Forestry Division for afforestation work, bringing the total number at present employed at Glenamoy to 63.
It is hoped to have buildings erected this year and meanwhile plans are being laid to seek answers to problems connected with moisture, soil amelioration, cropping and the management and utilisation of crops. Detailed and diverse experiments in drainage, liming and manuring, cultivation, crop varieties, shelter belts, harvesting and crop rotations are being laid down scientifically and will be accurately recorded so that comprehensive information may be obtained on the many and varying problems of bog utilisation. Experiments are being undertaken with the object of finding an appropriate technique to increase at minimum cost the stock-carrying capacity of uncultivated peat land. Special attention will be paid to the study of fodder conservation for winter feeding in areas of high rainfall, and the cultivation of industrial crops suitable to peat land. Such information will prove useful in the treatment of other bog and hill lands and will, it is hoped, have wide application over large areas of western counties.
Sub-head K (4)—£4,500—is a new sub-head and arises out of the subsidiary agreement dated 16th January, 1956, with the American authorities in connection with the Grant Counterpart Special Account. It provides for issues as shown all of which will be ultimately recoverable from Grant Counterpart Funds.
Sub-head M (4)—£5,000—is to cover commitments entered into in respect of loans the administration of which has been transferred to the Agricultural Credit Corporation.
With regard to sub-head M (8)— £105,000—the original £550,000 for the payment of grants under the farm buildings scheme is insufficient to meet payments during the current financial year. In the period 1st April, 1955, to 31st January, 1956, grants amounting to £521,000 were paid, as against £479,000 in the corresponding period last year. The average grant in the current year is working out at £34 as compared with £32 in the previous year. It is expected that the grants which will fall due for payment in the remainder of the year will amount to £149,000 or a total of £670,000. This is an excess of £120,000 on the original provision, but a saving of £15,000 is expected on the water supplies scheme for which £118,000 was provided.
On sub-head N. (10)—£80,000—the quantities of ground limestone delivered since the introduction of the scheme for payment of subsidy on the cost of delivery of the material, are as follows:— #
Year |
Quantity Delivered |
1951-52 |
278,000 tons |
1952-53 |
502,000,, |
1953-54 |
648,000,, |
1954-55 |
806,000,, |
The quantity delivered to farmers from 1st March, 1955, to mid-January, 1956, was 824,000 tons as compared with 592,000 tons delivered in the same period of the previous year. It is, accordingly, estimated that total deliveries in the current financial year will be in excess of 1,000,000 tons, an increase of about 25 per cent. on 1954-55. Expenditure by way of subsidy will, therefore, be greater than was anticipated and is now estimated at £680,000 instead of £600,000 as originally voted. Subsidy paid in 1954-55 amounted to £565,000.
Sub-head N (1)—£5—is a new item and is inserted to make provision for the payment of compensation for animals slaughtered on account of Johne's disease. The actual expenditure is expected to be about £500 but there are ample savings under other items of the sub-head to meet it.
Johne's disease is a serious infectious disease of cattle and to some extent also of sheep and goats, and is widespread in many countries, including Britain. The characteristic symptoms of the disease in cattle are gradual emaciation, reduced milk production and later persistent diarrhoea. The condition is usually fatal, there being no effective curative treatment.
So far, the incidence of the disease in Ireland is not as serious as in Britain or other countries abroad. Cases have, however, been tending to occur in this country in recent years to an extent which makes it necessary that comprehensive control measures for dealing with the disease should be available. To this end an Order entitled "Johne's Disease Order" was made on 12th May, 1955, under the Diseases of Animals Acts. Under this Order notices may be served restricting the movement of animals affected or suspected of being affected with Johne's disease. The Order also enables the Minister to cause to be slaughtered any animals affected or suspected of being affected with Johne's disease and provides for payment of compensation in respect of animals so slaughtered.
With regard to sub-head M (2)— £2,250, the number of animals slaughtered under the Bovine T.B. Order, 1926, was greater than was anticipated.
The net deficiency in the Appropriations-in-Aid-sub-head R—is £217,515, details of which are furnished in the printed Estimate. The individual items hardly call for comment except perhaps 19 (a), the recoupment from American Grant Counterpart Special Account. In general terms the reduced figures for receipts are due mainly to the fact that expenditure was not incurred sufficiently early to earn the recoupment from the grant in this financial year or expenditure was incurred before the agreements were signed.
The gross additional sum as shown on page 1 of the printed Estimate is £449,270, but this has been offset to the extent of £414,500 by savings on other sub-heads. There are two items worthy of comment in these savings (1) £100,000—Grants for Pasteurisation of Milk, and £42,000—Bovine T.B. Eradication Scheme. The pasteurisation scheme is an important adjunct to the T.B. eradication scheme and money expended under it is recoverable from the American Grant Counterpart. As the scheme is only in its preliminary stages payments have not yet matured. The saving of £42,000 on the T.B. eradication scheme has occurred in County Clare where the disposal of reactors and the completion of byres have not proceeded as quickly as anticipated.
As Deputies are aware, the T.B. eradication scheme is now in operation throughout the country and provides facilities to farmers or groups of farmers who desire to build up herds free of T.B. Herd-owners who participate in the scheme are entitled to:—
(1) Free T.B. testing of their herds by their own veterinary surgeons;
(2) Free professional advice on the eradication of T.B. from their herds;
(3) Grants at double the rates normally payable under the farm buildings scheme for the erection or improvement of cow byres;
(4) Grants for the extension of piped water supplies to farmyards and farms in addition to the grant normally available under the water supply scheme.
Three areas have been specially selected for the intensive eradication of the disease, namely, County Clare, County Sligo and the Bansha area. In these areas, the free professional advice at (2) above is provided by departmental veterinary inspectors and in addition herd-owners receive payment at current market value in respect of reactors (i.e., cattle failing to pass the T.B. test) disposed for slaughter at the direction of the Department.
The scheme is on a voluntary basis at present and each herd-owner who elects to become a participant, after his herd has had the initial T.B. test which is carried out without any obligation on the part of the owner, is required to comply with certain conditions such as convenient assembly of cattle for testing, marking, etc., isolation and removal of reactors, disinfection of premises, improvement of byres and the keeping of a simple form of herd record.
Compulsory measures will, in due course, be necessary for the eradication of the disease but fresh legislation will have to be passed before this step can be taken.