asked the Minister for Agriculture whether he is aware that the price of bran and pollard has been increased by more than £3 per ton since the price of grade A pigs was fixed at 97/- per cwt., and whether he intends to take steps either to reduce the cost of bran and pollard or to increase the fixed price of pigs.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Price of Feeding Stuffs.
I am aware that the ex-mill price for wheat offals was increased last month by £2 per ton, but the matter of fixing prices of bran and pollard is one for the Minister for Supplies.
As regards an increase in the fixed price of pigs, that is a matter for the Pigs and Bacon Commission who, I am sure, will give it full consideration when reviewing the effect on pig prices of the cost of feeding stuffs.
Am I to understand that the Minister for Agriculture is now completely impotent, or does he not claim any jurisdiction at all in this matter to protect those whom he is supposed to represent? Is he not aware that if the rise in the price of foodstuffs renders the production of pigs uneconomic, the people will go out of the production of pigs as they did before and that would be an unqualified catastrophe, in view of the prospective immense increase in the demand for pork and bacon which this country may expect within the next 12 months?
The only thing the Minister for Agriculture can do is to get a better price and a better market for the bacon.
Why do you not do it? Is the Minister doing anything in that connection?
I am doing my best.
God knows, that is not much.