asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will state, in view of the very low prices being offered to growers for blackcurrants this year, whether any assistance can be given by the Government to the growers; and, if not, if he will advise them to cease growing blackcurrants.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Assistance for Blackcurrant Growers.
38.
There are no funds available from which assistance could be given to growers of blackcurrants. The answer to the second part of the question is in the negative.
Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that for the past two years his Department have been encouraging people to grow blackcurrants? There is no market for them this year and the growers are left with the crop on their hands. Would the Parliamentary Secretary give some reasonable advice as to what they are supposed to do with them?
I do not know if the Department has been encouraging them over the past couple of years——
Check, and you will find that they have.
——but certainly the law of supply and demand has a great deal to do with it.
Surely the Parliamentary Secretary cannot get away in that way? Surely there must be some responsibility on a Department which has encouraged people to grow blackcurrants specifically for which there is now no market?
The Department have not been specifically mentioning blackcurrants as something they have been encouraging over the past year.
Would the Parliamentary Secretary be prepared to meet representatives of the people who grow blackcurrants to discuss the matter with them?
I think it would be far better if the negotiations were to continue between the growers and the purchasers. The point is that over the past few years there has been quite an amount of difficulty in agreeing on a price but agreement has ultimately been reached without any interference by the Department. I think it is to be recommended that efforts should be continued.
Does the Parliamentary Secretary not know that this year the jam manufacturers have said that they do not want blackcurrants and how can the growers get any way of disposing of their produce?
The jam manufacturers have offered a lower price.
They say they do not want blackcurrants.
Try M.J. Costello.