I move that the Bill be now read a Second Time. The purpose of the Bill is to enable An Bord Gráin to provide a superannuation scheme for its whole time officers and servants. The Bill also provides that the remuneration and allowances for expenses of the staff of the Board will be determined by the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries with the consent of the Minister for Finance.
An Bord Gráin was established in July, 1958, under the Agricultural Produce (Cereals) (Amendment) Act, 1958, to purchase and dispose of home-grown millable wheat surplus to milling requirements, the losses involved being met by a levy on growers of millable wheat. The Act also empowered the Minister to assign additional functions to the board in regard to grain. The board has not, in fact, exercised the original statutory function in regard to surplus millable wheat because a surplus of millable wheat was not produced in any year until 1968 when, however, as the House is aware, no levy was imposed and the cost of disposal of the surplus wheat has to be met by the Exchequer.
The board has, however, carried out a variety of other functions in relation to the marketing of the wheat crop, such as the marketing of unmillable wheat and the payment of special bonuses to growers in 1962. Additional important functions in regard to coarse grains have been statutorily assigned to the board over the years. The principal of these has been the purchase and resale of home-grown barley. The floor price guarantee for feeding barley is implemented by the board who purchase for resale such quantities of dried barley as are offered to them on 31st December each year. The board purchases the dried barley at a price which enables merchants to pay the growers the floor price for green barley and to meet the cost of drying, handling, interest and storage. The barley purchased by the board is resold to compounders and feeders on an exstore or delivered basis and the board's activities in this regard are self-supporting. The board also subsidises the cost of the transport of barley from the areas in which it is grown to the deficiency areas mainly in the west, and this is financed from the proceeds of a levy of £1 a ton on imported maize. The board also operates a purchase and resale arrangement for home grown feed wheat and the new floor price arrangement introduced this year for oats.
Additional functions also assigned to the board cover the purchase, importation, and distribution—subject to my approval—of maize, sorghums, imported feed wheat and feed barley. The board in the fulfilment of these functions generally operates through the established grain trade.
The board employs such staff as are necessary from time to time for the performance of its functions. At present there are 13 whole time persons on the staff of the board who would be eligible to participate in a contributory pension scheme. The number of staff may vary according to the functions of the board. The expenses of the board are met from income derived from its trading activities under the various functions statutorily assigned to it.
An Bord Gráin has sought my approval to operate a superannuation scheme for its staff and I have given my approval in principle, subject to the enactment of the necessary legislation. The board's operations have proved very useful and of particular benefit to farmers and, so far as can be foreseen, it will remain a permanent and essential feature of the grain trade in this country. The staff employed by the board should be regarded as on a permanent basis. Provision of a pension scheme brings the board's staff into line with other statutory bodies.
With the introduction of enabling legislation to operate a superannuation scheme, it appears to the Minister for Finance, and I agree, that the terms of remuneration and allowances for expenses to the staff which are now a matter for the board should for the future be determined by me with the consent of the Minister for Finance. This is already the case with the staff employed in the Dublin and Cork District Milk Boards.
The Bill follows generally the pattern of previous legislation relating to the operation of superannuation schemes by statutory bodies. The provision for Ministerial control of the remuneration and allowances for expenses of the staff of the board is made by an amendment of section 13 (3) of the original Act (Agricultural Produce (Cereals) (Amendment) Act, 1958) under which the board was established. The Bill will not involve any cost to the Exchequer.