asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will state how much was lost by Eggsports, Limited, on exports to Great Britain or elsewhere from 1st April, 1952, to 31st March, 1953, of (1) cockerels and (2) turkeys and how the money to recoup such losses was found.
Ceisteanna—Questions Oral Answers. - Exports of Poultry.
Mr. Walsh
I regret that, without a special audit of the books of Eggsports, Limited, which is a private company, I do not find it possible to give the Deputy the precise information he requires.
The Deputy is, I think, aware that the profits made by Eggsports, Limited, on the sale of small poultry and turkeys in 1950 and 1951 were used in their entirety to offset the losses which were made on the sale of cockerels and turkeys during 1952.
Is it true that having been left £250,000 in the turkey fund, which you spent at Christmas, 1951, that further heavy losses have been sustained on the sale of turkeys last Christmas and that heavy losses have been sustained on the sale of cockerels which are now being recouped by levying 8d. per lb. on the sale of every fowl? Surely the Minister and Eggsports know how much they are losing in the exports of cockerels and turkeys? They cannot be running a business on the basis that nobody knows whether they are losing or gaining. Surely the Minister should let us know whether they are incurring heavy losses. I suggest to the Minister that £250,000 sterling has been lost.
The Deputy is making a speech.
I am suggesting to the Minister that he has the information——
The Deputy has asked a question and he should leave it at that.
Mr. Walsh
The answer to the Deputy is that the money that he refused to give the farmers in 1950, the money to which they were legitimately entitled because of the price that was obtainable for their turkeys in Britain and that he withheld from them, was given to them in 1952. That is the answer to the question.
It will all come out in the wash ultimately. Is it true that we are now exporting fowl to Great Britain on the basis that on every chicken and every turkey we export we sustain a heavy loss? If so, how long do we propose doing it? Laugh that off now.
Mr. Walsh
The answer is that the funds which were created by levies on the poultry trade during the Deputy's period of office have been given back by the Government.
Have they given it back?
Mr. Walsh
We paid them back. You kept 4d. per lb. on the sale of turkeys.
And you spent that levy later. Where are the losses going to be met from now?
We gave them 1/- a lb. more than the Minister paid them.