I move:—
That, in view of the national importance of the dairying industry, Dáil Éireann is of opinion that the price of milk supplied to creameries should be increased to cover the increased cost of production.
As far as I am concerned this motion is of far greater importance to the people I represent than the Bill which is getting so much publicity in this House for the past week. The price of milk to the dairy farmers of this country is of far greater significance than that Bill. It is very important that we should know what the price will be next year and the years to come because if the price is not improved there will be no one in rural Ireland left to vote one way or the other. I come from an area which has suffered very much from depopulation, an area which has its whole economy built on the dairying industry, with pigs, poultry and a few store cattle.
After the severe year we have passed through; after the severe harvest, the bad weather and the low prices which we got for our milk, I see a very dark cloud hanging over the small farmers of Ireland who are dependent on the dairying industry for their future livelihood. I come, therefore, before this House to-night in the hope, and with a certain amount of confidence, that I shall convince the Government that at the moment a serious crisis exists in this country as regards the dairy farmers. The levy of 17/- per cwt. which they paid on the export of butter this year meant a reduction of approximately £1,000,000 in their income. The reduction in the production of milk meant another £1,000,000 loss to them and the serious weather conditions, together with the high cost of production, also meant a considerable loss.
Much time has been spent discussing how we are to compensate the wheat growers for the great losses they sustained, and I now understand that negotiations are pending between the Minister for Agriculture, An Bord Gráin and the National Farmers' Association, as to how to compensate them for their losses. I understand that they are to receive back the 5/9 levy retained from them. The wheat growers have made their case and I feel it my duty to make the case, as best I can, on behalf of the unfortunate dairy farmers whose losses are far greater, and are of greater significance to the economy of the country than the losses sustained by the wheat growers.
I sincerely hope that the Minister for Agriculture will seriously consider the arguments I am putting forward to-night on their behalf, and that he will compensate the dairy farmers also. I may start by pointing to the levy of 17/- per cwt. on butter which they had to pay to subsidise the English market. I had great hopes in the early part of this year when I spoke during the debate on the Vote for the Department of Agriculture. I listened to the Minister saying that we had no option but to sell butter below its economic price, because of the entirely uneconomic price obtainable in the export market. We had no option but to support the export price as was done for many years before the last war. That was the position that obtained for many years before the last war but it was only this year that the dairy farmer himself, who was the mainstay of the whole economy of the country, had to bear the brunt of the export subsidy on butter.
If we have not the exports where will we be? I gave my advice during that debate and I remind the Minister of what I said on that occasion. I stated:—
"We should concentrate, therefore, as much as possible on increased cattle production for the export market and we must base those exports on dairy cattle. The trade is too valuable to risk cutting the price of milk because, when we do so, we lose the confidence of the dairy farmers and we lose the cattle population which is so vital to our economy."
I made that statement on the 11th May this year, and how true it was, because we have a position to-day in which our cattle exports are declining.
Our cattle exports are considerably down in value from last year. They have decreased in value from £44,595,862 to £39,558,136, and that is a very disturbing factor for the country's economy. If there is a further reduction I wonder where will we get the money to buy the raw materials necessary for our industries? It is a very serious thing when we reduce our exports of cattle, and it is even more serious when, at the present time, our production of butter has decreased considerably over the past 12 months.
When I read some of the articles printed in those booklets issued recently, entitled "Economic Development", I wonder whether any practical man at all is at the head of affairs in framing the policy of the country. This is what was said in this little book called "Economic Development", but which I would say is more in the line of economic destruction:—
"The principle to be aimed at in the disposal of milk is that production above home requirements should be disposed of, in whatever form, at the best price obtainable on the export market without State subsidy. Since our competitors in the British market now subsidise their dairying exports to a greater or lesser degree, this ideal may not be attainable in the immediate future but the subsidy must be kept to a minimum and should be used to the best advantage, which is not necessarily to subsidise butter exports."
If we follow the line we are taking I am afraid we will not have the butter to subsidise for export, and that will be a far more serious position for us to face than having the butter. When we have it we should thank God for it because, when we have not got it, we will have nothing.
Our production of butter has decreased this year from 928,218 cwts. to 904,858 cwts., that is up to the 15th November. That is a very serious position to be in and it means a reduction in the production of butter to the extent of 23,360 cwts. In addition, we have reached a new low level in the amount of butter held in cold storage. At the present time there are only 170,516 cwts. in cold storage as against 240,001 cwts. at the same period last year and, if the rate of decrease continues, we shall be faced in a very short time with the necessity to import butter from New Zealand and the far ends of the earth, a position that we were in only a few short years ago.
When I read some of the statements in this little booklet, Programme for Economic Expansion, which was printed for our information, I wonder what we are coming to at all. In one paragraph it says:—
"During the past 100 years the number of milch cows has remained virtually stationary at around 1,200,000."
That is the system obtaining over the past 100 years, but the wishful thinking of some genius says:—
"An annual increase of 50,000 cows accompanied by an annual increase in yields even of only ten gallons per cow would at the end of five years quadruple the amount of milk surplus to home requirements. On the basis of present export prices and subsidy arrangements, this would entail an Exchequer subsidy of some £10,000,000 to £12,000,000 per annum."
It is frightening to think that we have to subsidise to the extent of £10,000,000 or £12,000,000, but it is more frightening, and it should be more upsetting to the Minister and the Government, that in the year 1958, our dairy products instead of increasing, are being drastically reduced, and our cattle numbers are decreasing. Wishful thinking such as is in that book will not increase the output from the dairy farmers. Something more practical is needed. Hard work and industry must be the keynote in developing the economy of the country. I have no hesitation in saying, as I have said before, that the whole future economy of this country must be based on the dairy industry. Without it, we would have a sorry tale to tell over the years, because it was our exports of store cattle, fat cattle and various cattle products that saved the situation.
Having dealt with the cattle side, I shall now turn to the dairy products themselves. I got the latest available figures in answer to a parliamentary question to-day. They prove the importance of the dairy industry to this country. It is an industry which gives tremendous employment. It gives more employment than all the other industries put up in this country with State subsidy and aid. In addition to supplying our own requirements at home, we had an export this year of £8,624,970. I did not get that total to-day. The total I got to-day was £4,640,095, but chocolate crumb was not included in to-day's reply. I appreciate that it may not come under the heading of dairy products, but I really think that the dairy industry is a very solid basis for the export of chocolate crumb. Without the dairy industry, we would not have the export of chocolate crumb and I am pleased to state that our exports of chocolate are very much on the increase.
Unfortunately, that cannot be said of our exports of cheese. Our exports of cheese have dropped by over 50 per cent. in the last 12 months. While, in 1957, we exported cheese to the approximate value of £20,000, we imported cheese to the value of over £30,000. I cannot see any sense in that position, and I should like to know why it should obtain in this country. Is the cheese produced here not sufficiently good for our own people? I eat it at every opportunity, whenever I feel like it, and I think it is second to none. There must be some underhand work by which the imported cheese is getting pride of place in the shops of this country and is being sold by the shopkepeers in preference to Irish cheese. It is a regrettable state of affairs that the sale of a foreign product—in my opinion, far inferior to our own—is being pushed in Irish shops in preference to our own cheese, which is of excellent standard. I can recommend it to our own people and our people abroad as being of first quality.