asked the Minister for Agriculture if he is aware of the difficulties farmers are faced with in the marketing of sheep; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
50.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Sheep and Lambs: Marketing and Prices.
49.
asked the Minister for Agriculture whether he is aware of the heavy fall in prices of sheep and lambs; and whether he proposes to take any steps to remedy the situation.
With your permission, A Leas-Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take questions Nos. 49 and 50 together.
I am well aware of the fall in prices of sheep and lambs this season.
As is fairly well known, the position is that in Britain the price of sheep fell very steeply because of a glut of supplies caused by heavy home slaughterings and increased imports. It is said that the heavy slaughterings were due not only to increased production but to the very poor pasture conditions resulting from the very long spell of dry weather.
While store sheep exported to Britain are eligible after three months for subsidy under the British fatstock guarantee scheme, the market for stores has been adversely affected by the situation in Britain as I have described.
The information we are able to gather suggests that the market situation may improve in the months ahead.
Would it be possible for the Minister to consider any approach to the British Government to shorten that period, even for a limited time, from now, say, until next Spring?
That is a wider sort of question, is it not?
The question asks if the Minister has any proposal to alleviate the circumstances of people who have large number of lambs on hand and cannot dispose of them. I fully appreciate the difficulties with which the Minister has to contend. Take the case of a man with sheep on a mountain who cannot get any market for them. Would it be possible to consider providing an additional outlet by seeking to shorten the period of sojourn for sheep and lambs in England?
Their problem is acute in that regard.
Would the Minister consider seeking alternative markets on the Continent of Europe for the export of sheep?
We are continually in search of markets but in that regard we have not been successful.
Are the French not prepared to take any?
No.
None?
Further arising out of the Minister's reply——
We broke off discussions with the French some months ago because of their refusal to give us a quota for lambs. Notwithstanding that breach, though, the Government have recently decided to continue the discussions——
Might I make the suggestion to the Minister for Agriculture in respect of lambs, which I made to the Minister for Health in respect of doctors? Following a period of ruptured relations, might it not be a good thing if the Minister took his courage in his hands and reopened the discussions?
I have actually stated that, as the Deputy would know if he had been listening to my reply. I said that the discussions with the French had been suspended because of their refusal to give us a quota for lambs. I said that, notwithstanding that crux, the Government had recently decided to renew negotiations with a view to reaching and completing a trade agreement with that country.
Is the Minister aware that lambs are at present being smuggled across the border, getting a subsidy of 1/- a lb., and being taken back here and resold in this city, to the detriment of the sheep producers throughout North Galway and the West?
Even if the Minister were so aware, what does the Deputy suggest the Minister could do about it?
Stop it—that is the Minister's job.
Perhaps the Deputy is not aware that we have trade agreements with the British. These trade agreements provide for the free import of lambs——
Does that trade agreement give permission for the dumping of meat here after the subsidy has been paid on it in Northern Ireland?
I have said that both the 1938 and the 1948 trade agreements provide for the free importation into this State of lambs and sheep without impediment of any kind.
After they have been smuggled across?
Why has the lamb trade with France failed?
I have dealt with that question in reply to Deputy Dillon.
The Minister has not. He has tried to pull the wool over the eyes of the people.
Will the Minister look into the smuggling aspect?