asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will state (1) the amount of butter it is proposed to import under licence; (2) whether the butter is to be imported by the Minister as head of the Department of Agriculture or by wholesale merchants; (3) whether the butter, if imported by the Minister, is to be retailed at a price commensurate with the purchase price or at the price at which native butter is being sold; (4) if at the latter price what is the profit per cwt. to the State; and (5) whether in any case such butter will be liable to duty on importation.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Importation of Butter.
It is intended to import about 7,000 cwts. of butter, more than half of which has, in fact, already been delivered. The butter is being imported by the Newmarket Dairy Company and is being distributed by that firm to the trade on terms which enable it to be retailed at the same price as home-produced butter. No profit accrues to the State.
The butter is imported duty free, but a levy is imposed thereon under the Dairy Produce (Price Stabilisation) Act, 1935, the proceeds of which are paid into the fund established under that Act for the benefit of the dairying industry.
Would it be true to say that the profits derived out of that fund are in fact being used for the purpose of selling Irish butter to Germans at 8½d. while our people have to pay 1/5 for New Zealand butter?
The profits are going to keep up the price which the Irish farmers are getting for their butter.
Is it not true that they are being used to subsidise the export of Irish butter to the Germans at 8½d, while our people are paying 1/5 for New Zealand?