asked the Taoiseach whether his attention has been drawn to an article which appeared in a morning newspaper of the 24th instant, under the heading "Taoiseach's subsidy cut statement surprises", which contained a garbled and misleading version of his statement in the Dáil on the 23rd instant in regard to subsidies, and if he will make a statement to correct any erroneous impression that may have been caused by the article.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Newspaper Article.
My attention has been drawn to the article referred to by the Deputy, which appeared in the Irish Press of the 24th July. That article contained the following passage:—
"The statement by the Taoiseach, Mr. Costello, in the Dáil yesterday, that it was the Government's intention to take away some of the £10,000,000 food subsidy put there by the last Government has caused surprise in many quarters, but particularly in circles connected with bread production.
His further announcement that the Government were going to take away all the subsidies while ensuring that the people will get the same amount of bread at the same cheap price, has not been seriously accepted."
This is, as the Deputy points out, a garbled and misleading version of what I said in the Dáil on the 23rd instant. What I did say was reported by the official reporters as follows:—
"Deputy Lemass asked why did we not tell the people that we were going to do away with, to withdraw, the food subsidy. We did not tell the people that we were going to withdraw the food subsidy, because we are not going to do it until we see that we can do it. What we are going to do, if and when we can, is to take away some of the £10,000,000 subsidy put there by the last Government, if the position emerges that some of these people engaged in these industries, the flour and milling industries, are getting too much profit at the expense of the consumer. Then we will take it back, and that is what we want this committee for, to take that £10,000,000— all of it if we can, and most of it if possible, and some of it at all events —and still leave the people getting the same amount of bread at the same cheap price and utilising what we will save on that for the constructive proposals that this Government has in view."
Alone of the Dublin morning newspapers, the Irish Press, in an otherwise fairly full report of my speech, omitted the proviso in which I referred to the possibility that persons engaged in the milling industry may be getting too much profit. That omission makes it all the more clear that the article to which the Deputy refers, which was printed on the front page, separately from the report of my speech, was calculated to convey to the readers of the Irish Press a false impression of what I said on the subject of food subsidies.
It seems to be quite a fair comment.
For the Irish Press.