asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries if he will explain the chaos in the intake and drying arrangements for wheat during this harvest season.
45.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Intake of Wheat.
44.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries if he is satisfied with the intake of wheat by the millers during this harvest.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 44 and 45 together.
Unavoidable delays in the intake of wheat occurred in the Midlands, Dublin and Louth areas. These were caused by a number of factors including the overlapping, to some extent, of the wheat harvest by the barley harvest, the increase in bulk deliveries which put still greater strain on drying facilities, and also the increased volume of wheat with a high moisture content.
With a view to relieving the position in the difficult areas I arranged with the Irish Flour Millers Association for the use of all available drying points, and I am satisfied that every effort was made by all concerned to overcome such difficulties as arose.
In the five weeks ended 14th October about 200,000 tons of green wheat was delivered to the intake points. Half of this quantity or 100,000 tons was delivered in the last two weeks of September. Wheat never before came in at this rate. In the light of this experience, I propose to examine the marketing arrangements for grain.
Would the Minister not agree he got ample opportunity to assess the situation in advance? He knew there was an increase of approximately 40 per cent in wheat, but no effort whatever was made to ensure that the wheat would be taken in at the rate it should be taken in, having regard to this increase in quantity.
This is a 40 per cent increase on last year.
Yes.
It is equivalent to the 1965 acreage.
We had chaos in 1965.
It is not like as if we never had this sort of acreage before. We had a similar acreage in 1965 and there was no chaos to the degree that the Deputy would like now to think there had been. Neither is there chaos in relation to this harvest, although the Deputy, with his magnificent hindsight, expects I should, at an early period, have had the foresight to anticipate all the difficulties and all the factors that arise and of which neither I nor anybody else could have been aware before they came about.
Would the Minister not agree that Providence came to his aid in 1965, with the exceptional weather?
Much to the Deputy's chagrin.
It was because of this chaos that these people got out of wheat. The Minister induced them to get back in and, as before, there are no facilities.
The Deputy knows as well as I do that before there was a grain of wheat cut this year, the cries were going up about a crisis, and to quote some of these people, the farmers stood to lose from £3 million to £5 million.
Is it not the position that the Minister waited until many farmers suffered heavy losses before he arranged to have 18 extra intake points for the drying of wheat?
If the Deputy is as fully aware of everything as he would like those outside this House to believe——
All you have to do is look outside any mill.
Does the Deputy appreciate that in the four weeks up to the first week in October this year, there was taken in through our drying points the same amount of wheat as was taken in in the eight weeks of the previous harvest?
So what?
Does the Deputy appreciate that?
That is a compliment to the farmers who are equipping themselves properly.
Does he appreciate that 32 additional drying points were opened this year and are still operating?
(Interruptions.)
I am trying to speak.
If the Parliamentary Secretary would allow the Minister to reply.
The Deputy himself is interrupting because he does not want to hear the reply and possibly my colleague is sorry for him.
The Parliamentary Secretary is just being offensive.
The Minister is replying to a question.
Would the Minister not agree that in other years the mills were kept open for receiving wheat around the clock? This is the first year they have not done so. Would he not further agree that as the mills have a monolithic control of wheat, he should ensure that they remain open around the clock and that farmers are not left high and dry with their wheat for the rest of the season and for other seasons to come?
Finally, could the Minister tell the House that he is going to make arrangements for the intake of wheat next year that will restore the farmers' confidence and keep them growing wheat?
This is the Minister's final answer.
What I would like to ensure is that nothing gets out from this House that would cause any lack of confidence on the part of farmers. There is no reason why there should be any lack of confidence when we realise that at this particular time 221,000 tons of wheat have been taken in through the drying points, that this is 100,000 tons greater than ever was handled by our mills in previous years.
Is it not true that the acreage——
The trouble with Fine Gael is that they will never listen to the truth.
The Minister should tell the truth.
There is 100,000 tons of wheat more gone through our mills at this point of time in this year, 1967, than ever went through at the same point of time any other year. This year is truly comparable with 1965 because a similar acreage was grown in that year. We took 120,000 tons through the mills at this point of time in 1965 with a similar acreage. This year we have taken through 221,000 tons. That accounts for 94 per cent of our wheat crop; this 94 per cent has been paid for at millable prices and there is 13,000 tons, or 6 per cent of that 221,000 tons, paid for at unmillable prices. Surely the disaster and the chaos the Deputies over there are talking about does not exist? There may be a few farmers who have, unfortunately, lost, due to weather conditions and the type of land they have, but this is the record of the national wheat crop, and neither Fine Gael nor anybody else can contradict that.
The arrangements are inadequate: that is the point.