asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is aware that a number of farm labourers, working on large farms in the eastern counties, have their mid-day meal away from home and that this meal is mainly of bread; and if, in view of their hard work and open-air life, he will consider this category of workers for the increased bread ration he proposes to provide for workers who take meals away from home.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Farm Labourers' Bread Ration.
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is prepared to include farm labourers in the categories included as eligible for supplementary bread ration allowances.
I propose to take questions Nos. 1 and 2 together.
The granting of supplementary allowances under the flour and bread rationing scheme has been confined to limited classes of workers engaged in heavy manual work in occupations in which general conditions make it impracticable for them to return home for meals or to make alternative arrangements which would permit of a reduction of their total bread consumption. I do not consider that the majority of farm workers are in this position. In this connection it will be appreciated that the aim of bread and flour rationing is to reduce the total consumption of wheat products and to ensure the substitution therefor of other foods such as potatoes. The numbers of farm workers is so considerable that the extension to them of the supplementary ration scheme would involve substantial extra supplies of wheat and, in the light of present prospects as to future supplies, I would not feel justified in sanctioning an increased rate of utilisation of wheat stocks. The extension of the scheme as proposed would, therefore, involve the reduction of the general ration.
I do not consider that it would be practicable to extend the supplementary ration scheme to farm workers in eastern counties only, or to such workers employed on large farms.
It is appreciated that the introduction of bread rationing may necessitate changes in habits, and in method of organising work in some occupations, such as on large farms, but it is considered that, for the period in which bread rationing will be in operation, these changes can be made without undue inconvenience.
Supplementary allowances are, of course, granted to builders' labourers, roadmen and those doing heavy work. Is the Minister aware that farm labourers leave farms in Kinsealy, Swords, and places like that at 4 o'clock or 5 o'clock in the morning with two or three loads of cabbage and potatoes for the Dublin market and are not home until 5 or 6 o'clock in the evening? These young farm labourers usually bring half a loaf with them and when coming home pull up to have a pint with the bread. We hear a lot of talk about the flight from the land. Does the Minister not consider that very little inducement is offered to such labourers when they do not get the same facilities as are given to road workers and builders' labourers who, I agree, are entitled to them? Will the Minister not consider giving a supplementary allowance of bread to these farm labourers who have to leave in the early morning for the Dublin market?
The Deputy is not asking a supplementary question; he is making a speech.
I am not referring to farm labourers who live on the farms on which they work.
Apart altogether from the problems which exist in the east, is the Minister aware that very serious problems will arise in the west and, if he cannot see any way of dealing with these problems, a very serious situation will arise in connection with turf saving in places like West Clare and other places like that in the west? Not only have farmers to bring together a large number of additional agricultural workers to do the spring sowing and the other work on the farms, but they have to bring large numbers of additional workers together to do turf saving and cutting and the circumstances in which they work are not such as to enable them to bring bread with them and in many cases they are not able to get a meal of potatoes. A very large amount of work is carried out in the spring and summer and usually the meals taken consist of tea and bread. Does the Minister not realise that he will have to adopt a system by which farmers will get some kind of subsidiary ration to enable them to provide bread for groups of temporary workers who will be working with them, otherwise agricultural work and turf saving will be very severely handicapped, particularly in the west?
Is it not possible for the Minister to accept the principle that the class of worker who leaves home early in the morning and has his main meal away from home, consisting of bread and tea in the main, would be entitled to a supplementary bread ration where the family circumstances are such that that worker cannot draw on the family bread supply to meet the unusual circumstances under which he is employed?
Mr. Corish
I think the Minister has admitted that this state of affairs does not apply to the majority of agricultural labourers. Would the Minister be prepared to consider applications from the minority? There are many farm labourers who do not avail of employment on an all-found basis because it would mean a reduction in their wages. Would the Minister not be prepared to consider this minority? It is a well-known fact, as I know from speaking to agricultural labourers, that a 1-lb loaf would not be sufficient for one of these men for his mid-day meal. If it does not apply to the majority, surely there would not be a great change in the situation if the Minister considered an application from the minority.
Would the Minister consider any means whereby small farmers and labouring men going out to cut turf would be enabled to get a certificate or some kind of document from the Garda station or some local authority authorising them to get a supplementary ration, in any case for the period in which they have to go to the bog, which is a distance from their home and from which it is virtually impossible to come home in the middle of the day without wasting an undue part of their working day?
With regard to Deputy Mulcahy's reference to farm workers in the West of Ireland, I should like to point out to him that the suggestion made in Deputy Hughes's question is that supplementary rations for agricultural labourers should be confined to such labourers employed on large farms in eastern counties. The reference to farm workers on such farms in my reply relates to that part of Deputy Hughes's question.
With regard to the observations of Deputies generally, I want them to understand that we do not increase the supply of wheat by giving out additional ration cards. There is a limited amount of wheat, sufficient to maintain the present ration until about the beginning of June, and, up to the present, there is no certain prospect of additional supplies within that period. If we decide to give out additional rations to any class of the community, it will mean either that the lasting period of our stocks will be reduced or that the general ration must be lowered. If we have to face a lowering of the general ration—and any extension of the supplementary ration scheme to farm workers would certainly necessitate that, because of their number—then it is at least problematical whether in the great majority of the households concerned there would be increased bread supplies. In many of these households the total supply would be reduced rather than increased by the change. We have decided to try out the supplementary ration scheme for certain limited classes of workers in respect of whom there were special difficulties. The decision to do that was prompted by the fact that the number of such workers could be limited so that they could be carried on our stocks without appreciable danger to the total supply. If that number has to be increased, the general ration must be reduced. I am as sympathetic as any Deputy with the difficulties created for many classes of workers, but you cannot take more out of a pint pot than a pint and in this matter Deputies must have regard to the general situation as well as the needs of individual classes.
I think it might be possible to extend the scheme to cover people who have to make occasional trips substantial distances from their homes but ordinarily I think that these people would arrange to procure meals in eating houses and restaurants or similar establishments. The farm workers who travel to the Dublin market do not do so every day of the week and it is not necessary to provide for them on the assumption that they do it every day of the week but there are certain classes, not merely of farm workers, but of other workers as well, who have occasionally to travel substantial distances from their homes and arrangements have been made to meet them where they are organised in employment with known employers because the administration of the scheme and the checking of the issue of the additional allowances can be facilitated with the co-operation of the employer. But, generally speaking, any extension of the supplementary ration scheme to farm workers, either farm labourers or small farmers, would involve such a substantial amount of additional wheat that it could not be undertaken without a serious cut in the general ration.
Would the Minister consider granting a supplementary ration——
Ceist a trí There has been a quarter of an hour on that question.
It is a very important subject for 3,000,000 people in the country.
But it is a debate. Question 3.