Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 27 Oct 1937

Vol. 69 No. 5

Committee on Finance. - Agricultural Produce (Cereals) (Amendment) Bill, 1937—Money Resolution.

Minister for Industry and Commerce (Mr. Lemass)

I move:—

That it is expedient to authorise the payment out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas of any expenses incurred in carrying into effect any Act of the present Session to amend the Agricultural Produce (Cereals) Acts, 1933-36, by providing for the exclusion of wheat, the flour derived from which is used in the manufacture of biscuits, in calculating, for the purposes of the said Acts, the quantity of wheat milled at mills licensed under the said Acts, and to amend Section 30 of the Agricultural Produce (Cereals) Act, 1933.

Mr. Cosgrave

How much would it cost?

Mr. Lemass

The cost will be negligible. The Bill has two purposes: One is to grant certain facilities in the matter of milling quotas and the requirement to use Irish wheat by any miller who engages in the production of flour used by biscuit manufacturers, and the only other purpose is to rectify an omission made in a previous Bill, namely, to give power to recover a debt due to the Minister for over-milling.

Mr. Cosgrave

For over-milling?

Mr. Lemass

Yes. When a miller over-mills — that is, when he mills more wheat than his permit allows of — he becomes indebted to the Minister for certain amounts which are set out in the Bill. As I explained on the Committee Stage, the Act of 1933 provided that where a debt became due to the Minister because of over-milling, the Minister could recover the amount due as a simple contract debt in a court of competent jurisdiction. That particular section was deleted and amended in the Act of 1934, but through an oversight that provision was omitted, and we are taking advantage of this Bill to rectify the omission.

Mr. McMenamin

What is the purpose of the Bill?

Mr. Lemass

To facilitate the manufacture of biscuit flour. Biscuit flour is flour made from a very special type of wheat. It is the view of the biscuit manufacturers here that it cannot be made successfully from Irish wheat. Up to the present we have been satisfied to allow the flour required for biscuit manufacture to be imported. In fact, the only flour imported at present is flour for biscuit manufacturers. We have, however, discussed the matter with biscuit manufacturers and millers on a number of occasions, and, as a result of these discussions, we are now providing in this Bill that if any miller brings in the special wheat from which the flour must be made and mills it here, that wheat will not count against him, either in respect of his total quota or his obligation to use Irish wheat. That is the sum total of the provisions of the Bill.

Mr. Cosgrave

Will the Minister say if the biscuit manufacturers are satisfied with regard to that?

Mr. Lemass

If the biscuit manufacturers do not want to buy this flour, they do not have to.

Mr. Cosgrave

The biscuit manufacturers are accustomed to getting cortain flour for manufacturing biscuits. It is a highly specialised business, and I suppose the Minister heard of that. Unless the quality of the flour is exactly what they have been accustomed to getting, there is danger that the quality of the biscuits may not be the same. There is a big export business done in biscuits. While we can insist on our own people consuming biscuits of the quality manufactured from whatever class of flour we please, in world competition it is a different business. I suppose the Minister has heard that very slight variations affect the quality and the purchase of these biscuits?

Mr. Lemass

This Bill has been introduced in agreement with the biscuit manufacturers.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolution reported and agreed to.