asked the Minister for Finance if, in view of his statements on inflation, he supports the EEC recommendations on farm prices.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Farm Prices.
102.
As the Deputy knows, the Council of Ministers for Agriculture have now decided on farm prices for the current year. The Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries in the negotiations in the Council of Ministers reflected the Government's anxiety to balance the opportunity of improvements in farm incomes with the equally important objective of controlling inflation.
It would be quite wrong to infer, as the Deputy's question would appear to do, that there is a conflict of interest between higher incomes for farmers and the welfare of consumers.
Of the produce of Irish farms about 50 per cent is exported. Forty per cent of the working population and their families are dependent on agriculture —25 per cent directly and 15 per cent indirectly in related industries and services.
The latest year for which full figures are available shows that 40 per cent of the State's GNP is imported and 35 per cent is exported. It is apparent, therefore, that the national interest requires that this country obtains the best possible prices for its exports in order that it may be in a position to pay for its imports, including the raw materials required for many manufacturing industries. The Deputy will appreciate that as the home market is already fully supplied, virtually all increased farm output will be exported. Therefore, the community as a whole will benefit. I think it is important that this basic fact be clearly understood.
I might add that the final terms of the agricultural prices policy, in the negotiations for which the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries worked tirelessly and effectively, are such that the maximum benefit has been secured for Irish farmers with minimal cost to Irish consumers.
Can the Minister state that any butter which we export will not be sold at a cheap rate to other countries?
The Deputy is asking a separate question but I should not like to be discourteous to him in not replying at length. I think he understands what has now been arranged with the EEC and he will appreciate that, when we are a party to the Common Market policy, we cannot make decisions as freely as we might have in the past. This practice of subsidising exports of food has been going on for very many years. I hope that with the course of time we may have a situation in which artificial intervention is not necessary.