The comment I have to make now arises out of the statement the Minister made a few minutes ago. I quote the Minister's opening speech in which he said:
...out of the boards' total receipts of some £103,000 in the fishery year ended 30th September last, £36,000 came from fishery rates, close on £29,000 from licence duties and £23,000 in the form of grants from the Fisheries Vote.
He tells us that the salmon levy extracted from the pockets of the salmon fishermen yielded a sum of £10,000 and that £10,000 goes into the Exchequer and, out of the Exchequer, comes a grant of £23,000 for boards of conservators. It would appear, therefore, as if a sum of only £13,000 is being granted to boards of conservators when one remembers that £10,000 of that amount is stolen out of the pockets of the fishermen engaged in salmon fishing. These men are put to the pin of their collar to eke out an existence by salmon fishing and I think it is morally wrong that they should be subjected to a levy or a tax of this kind.
The Minister says that only £10,000 is got from this levy. According to Fianna Fáil and the Minister, we have now reached a most desirable state of prosperity. That is proclaimed by Fianna Fail long and loudly. Surely the Government should now reconsider this whole matter. To use the phrase of the Minister for Transport and Power, this £10,000 is really very small beer indeed where the State is concerned but it would mean a great deal to the men out of whose pockets it is taken. I feel very strongly on this matter of a salmon levy and I appeal to the Minister now to abolish it. It is an unjust means of extracting money from these people. We have the Minister's word for it that this money is being used to relieve the Exchequer. It is morally wrong to extract this money from these salmon fishermen. It is wrong in principle. It is wrong that any food exported should be subjected to a tax or levy.
I ask the Minister to consult with his colleagues and to bring himself and his colleagues to a proper realisation of their responsibilities towards the men engaged in the salmon fishing industry. I repeat what Deputy Dillon said on the Fisheries Estimate; one of the first acts performed by a Fine Gael Government will be to ensure that justice is done to those engaged in the export of salmon. We ensured that justice was done before and we are quite capable of ensuring it is done again. We are confident we were right before and nothing has changed our minds since. It is unreasonable to enforce this levy and, so soon as there is a change of Government, those who suffer as a result of this levy now will be put in the position of having an extra penny or tuppence put into their pockets.
