Vol. 214 No. 2
asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will state (1) the number of copies of his New Year message that were sent at the public expense, (2) the estimated cost in labour of addressing these, (3) the cost of printing the same, and (4) the amount paid by his Department to the Department of Posts and Telegraphs for delivery thereof.
134.
asked the Minister for Agriculture the number of New Year messages sent to farmers by him at the beginning of the year, their cost, and the cost of postage.
135.
asked the Minister for Agriculture the total cost of his message of New Year greetings which he addressed to the farmers of this country; the total number which were dispatched; the cost of printing; and the amount of time taken up by the officers of his Department in each county in addressing and preparing these greetings.
136.
asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will state (1) the cost of sending out the New Year's message to the herd owners of the country, (2) who paid the cost of the message, and (3) how many were returned because the owners had emigrated.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 133, 134, 135 and 136 together.
Approximately 240,000 copies of the message were despatched. The cost of paper and printing was £346 12s. The amount of the interdepartmental book transfer from my Department to the Department of Posts and Telegraphs in respect of delivery has not yet been ascertained.
The preparation and addressing of the envelopes was done at the district veterinary offices, a number of which service more than one county. This work was integrated with other duties of these offices and it would not be feasible to make any accurate estimate of the extra time or labour cost involved. Use was, of course, made of the Addressall machines with which each of the local offices is equipped.
The cost of paper, envelopes and printing is being borne on the Vote for the Stationery Office and the ballance of the cost on the Vote for my Department.
A very small proportion of the letters was returned undelivered.
How many would have been returned?
A very small proportion.
I returned five myself for people to whom I let land.
They were probably Fine Gael supporters.
No. They were Fianna Fáil. They were gone. When they were there, they were Fianna Fáil. You succeeded in driving them out.
They could not have been Fianna Fáil if they were gone.
