asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will state the text of the terms of reference in pre-1936 legislation under which the Agricultural Wages Board for Ireland was obliged to fix a wage for agricultural workers related to an agricultural occupation; and if this provision, which is not in the Agricultural Wages Act, 1936, was revived in other legislation.
Written Answers. - Agricultural Wage Rates.
118.
I presume the Deputy is referring to a British enactment viz. the Corn Production Act, 1917. That Act was repealed in 1921. Matters appertaining to the enactment were never the responsibility of the Minister for Agriculture.
My responsibility is with the Agricultural Wages Act, 1936 and the Agricultural Wages (Amendment) Act, 1945.
119.
asked the Minister for Agriculture if the provision in Section 17 (2) of the Agricultural Wages Act, 1936 enabling minimum rates to be varied according to the conditions of the employment enables the Board to vary the minimum rates so as to fix a special plus rate for milkers who are obliged by their conditions of employment to milk cows at an early hour, such as 6 a.m.
There is nothing that I can usefully add to my reply to a question on the same lines addressed to me by Deputy Desmond on 30th May, 1961.