asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will state the cause for the delay in publishing the Report of the Committee of Inquiry on Post-Emergency Agricultural Policy.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Post-War Agricultural Policy.
asked the Minister for Agriculture if he can now state when the final report of the Committee of Inquiry on Post-War Agriculture will be published.
I propose taking these two questions together. There has been no delay in publishing this report other than that incidental to the work of printing in present circumstances. Every effort is being made in my Department to get the report published as soon as possible. It is expected that it will be available in about a month's time.
Will the Minister say when the report was received by him?
The second minority report was received about the end of June and it was sent to the printer about the 21st July.
When was the final majority report received?
There was a majority report and two minority reports. The second minority report was not received until the end of June. We then had to get estimates for printing and the authority of the Government for the printing of the reports. It was not in the printer's hands until about the 21st July.
When was the majority report received?
The majority report was received, so far as I can recollect, somewhere about the 1st June, though I could not be quite sure.
asked the Minister for Agriculture if it is the intention of the Government to adopt and publicly announce a long-term policy for agriculture based on State-guaranteed and economic minimum prices for the chief products of the land.
I would refer the Deputy to my statement on this subject during the course of the debate on the Estimate for my Department on 17th May last. As I stated then I favour a policy of guaranteed prices, but in considering this question the fact must be borne in mind that in normal times a feature of our agricultural economy is an export surplus sold in a competitive market. This in effect means that as regards cattle, eggs and similar items our export prices must move in sympathy with world prices or receive heavy subsidies. The situation is not quite the same as regards commodities of which there is no export surplus but before going more fully into the whole matter I propose to await the publication and full consideration of the final report of the Committee of Inquiry on Post-Emergency Agricultural Policy.