asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will make a statement as to the price which will be paid to producers for milk delivered to creameries during this year.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Price of Creamery Milk.
The price which will be paid to producers for milk delivered to creameries during the present year will, as heretofore, depend on the return received by creameries on their sales of butter and other products, and the contribution to be made from the Exchequer.
Is it not time to put an end to fraud? The Minister knows perfectly well the meaning of the question. Has the Minister got the courage to tell the producers what it is his intention to do? If he has let him do so, if he has not let him shelter behind his own deplorable record.
The Minister will inform the public and the producers when he is in a position to do so.
Is the Minister not in a position to tell the producers of this country that they will continue to receive the same return for their creamery milk as they have received in the past 12 months?
I have told the Deputy who asked the question of the factors which will determine the price of milk. I shall repeat them. They are (1) the return received by creameries on their sales of butter and other products and (2) the contribution to be made from the Exchequer.
Is the Minister not aware that the returns receivable by creamery markets for their butter is largely dependent on the price fixed by the Minister to be charged on the domestic market for butter? It may be that the Minister has not yet carried the Government with him in any decisions; if so, he can tell us. I want to ask him is he not now in a position to say the creamery milk suppliers, in the coming year, can rest assured they will not receive less than they received in 1957?
No member of this House will be less hesitant than I will be to make a clear and frank decision when the time to make it has arrived.