asked the Minister for Agriculture whether his statement as reported in the Press, to the effect that the Government are prepared to sell agricultural produce, including meat, to Britain at a lower price than to other countries represents considered Government policy, and also whether he is prepared to amplify this statement.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - British Price for Agricultural Produce.
The policy of the Government is to sell our agricultural produce on terms which will give the maximum benefit to producers. If Great Britain is prepared to make a satisfactory long term deal with us and to pay equitable prices for our produce, it is obviously better to sell the bulk of our exportable surplus on the British market, which is the only one capable of absorbing indefinitely all the food we shall have for export.
I am not prepared to be a party to the sale to Great Britain at inequitable prices of produce which can be sold elsewhere at scarcity prices, nor am I prepared in the name of the Irish Government to attempt to extract from an old and valued customer prices for her traditional purchases from this country, which are measured exclusively by comparison with prices offered from other sources where acute temporary shortages give rise to the offer of prices out of all relation to the fair value of what we want to sell