asked the Minister for Lands and Fisheries if he is aware that the activities in connection with the escallop dredging in Bantry and Dunmanus Bays are in full operation for some time past, and if he will state (1) how soon the promised bounty on escallops will come into effect, (2) if it will be retrospective from the beginning of the present season, (3) what the amount of the bounty will be, and (4) to what other branches of the shell-fish industry will the bounty apply and the amount of bounty payable in respect of such other shell-fish industries.
Ceisteanna.—Questions. Oral Answers. - Bounty on Escallops.
Payment of bounties on exports of escallops, mussels, periwinkles and fresh-water eels will come into operation in a few days. The conditions under which the bounties will be paid and the date from which these conditions come into force will be announced in the public Press to-morrow.
It is not proposed to pay bounties on exports made before that date.
The bounty on escallops will be one-half of the import duty paid on consignments. The bounty on mussels and periwinkles will be equivalent to the total import duty paid.
Will the Parliamentary Secretary specify the other branches of the shell-fish industry to which the bounty will apply in addition to escallops? Did I understand him to say that the bounty will be 50 per cent. of the tariff?
The bounty on escallops will be one-half of the import duty paid on consignments. The bounty on mussels and periwinkles will be equivalent to the total import duty paid.
Will it be confined altogether to escallops, mussels and periwinkles?
Mussels, escallops, periwinkles and fresh-water eels.
But eels are not shell-fish.