asked the Minister for Agriculture if he is aware that one of the aims of the Pigs and Bacon Act was to eliminate local discrepancies in prices payable to producers for pigs, and, if so, if he will state why pigs are being bought at 132/- per cwt. dead-weight in some parts of Éire, while 160/- per cwt. dead-weight is being paid for the same grade of pigs in other towns in Éire at the present time; and if he will cause inquiry to be made into this anomaly.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Price of Pigs.
I am aware that one of the aims of the Pigs and Bacon Commission was to secure uniformity in the prices payable to producers for pigs. The Act was designed to deal with normal conditions in the pig and bacon industries, but conditions in these industries have not been normal for a considerable time past. In order to cope with the situation created by the emergency, it became necessary to suspend the provisions of the Act relating to appointed prices and to substitute minimum, instead of fixed, prices for pigs. Under this arrangement there are bound to be variations in prices in different parts of the State consequent on the position with regard to local supply and demand, but a discrepancy as wide as that mentioned by the Deputy would, if it occurred at all, necessarily be of short duration.
Is the Minister aware that that discrepancy has existed for the past three months?
No, I am not.
That is so. What I would like to know is, how is it that the profits of the manufacturer who is paying 132/- for pigs and getting the fixed price for bacon are not engaging the attention of the Price Controller of the Department of Supplies inasmuch as he has 28/- profit per pig more than the man who is paying 160/-?
We get returns from certain specified markets and they do not disclose nearly as wide a discrepancy as that mentioned by the Deputy. I should like to have some information.
Does the Minister not get the advertisements published by the bacon curers, making offers for pigs?
We get these, yes.
If the Minister will go to his file and if he has got an offer for pigs from every factory in Ireland for last week he will find one factory offering 132/- and another factory offering 160/-. That has been going on for months.
It is much higher than that — 130/-.
I think it is obvious that the factory offering 132/- just does not want pigs.
I do not know, but they are getting them.
Is it not a fact that it was the request of people interested in pigs to have a fixed minimum price for pigs and a maximum price for bacon and is not that reflected in the pig population?
Does not the Minister agree that the price is often much higher than 160/-?
It is.
Would the Minister say what useful purpose is served by such a low minimum price?
Some price must be fixed.
Is not the minimum price 125/-?
It was left just as it was.
How can you relate that to the present approximate price of 178/-?
How can you explain the continuance of advertisements for pigs at 132/- in one district when in another district they can get 160/- to 170/-?
It must be that there is a very small supply, because buyers often come over 100 miles to the Dublin market for pigs. I do not see why they should not go to the market that Deputy Dillon has in mind if there was any supply to be got there.
Is not the present guaranteed minimum price a farce?
No, it is just a legal necessity.
It ought to serve a useful purpose, to encourage pig production. That is the ultimate purpose of the minimum price? Is not that so?
If it was not legally necessary to name a price, it would not be necessary at all.
It should serve a better purpose than that. Does not the Minister agree that it should serve a useful purpose — to encourage production of bacon?
No.
No fixed price ever served any useful purpose.
The idea was to withdraw control completely. That could not be done legally. The minimum price had to be named. The minimum price was just left as it was. It has no effect on the price of pigs.