Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 29 Feb 1956

Vol. 154 No. 7

Private Members' Business. - Price of Wheat Offals—Motion.

Mr. Corry:

I move:—

That the Dáil disapproves of the action of the Minister for Industry and Commerce in increasing the price of home produced wheat offals to that of imported offals, thus imposing, since September, 1954, an additional burden on pig feeders of over £600,000, to the detriment of the pig industry.

I gave notice that I proposed to raise the subject matter of a question on the Adjournment. I shall not do so, as this motion deals with the same matter.

I admit that Governments, when in straits for money, search around to see where they can find it and, at times, with very little scruple as to whose pockets they put their hands in; but I hold that a Government, who put their hands into the pockets of what I would describe as the extra industrious small farmer of this country—the man who is feeding the pig—and by increasing the price of his feeding stuffs deliberately robs him of his profit, deliberately makes his industry an uneconomic one, and deliberately drives out of production a large number of pig feeders, are not a Government this House should approve of.

Minister for Social Welfare (Mr. Corish):

That applies to all Ministers for Industry and Commerce.

Mr. Corry:

I am not worried. I am putting the case as I find it here, and I find that this Minister for Industry and Commerce, speaking in this House on 23rd March, 1955, made the following statement:

"It was originally calculated that the reduction in flour and bread prices as from the 1st May, 1954, would add approximately £900,000 to the bill for subsidy for the financial year 1954-55. In actual fact, the reduction will cost £927,000 against which, however, can be offset items amounting to about £555,000, leaving a balance of £372,000 to be provided for under this sub-head."

The chief offsetting items, of which I shall give details in a moment, are:—

"(a) increased receipts by flour millers from sales of wheaten offals over and above the amount originally estimated;

(b) savings accruing from changes in the millers' grist; and,

(c) the fact that milling costs proved to be lower than was thought when the original Estimate was prepared."

That is the particular matter that I am dealing with.

"Increases in the price of offals, from £20 to £23 per ton in September, 1954, to £24 10s. in December, 1954, and to £26 a ton in January, 1955, account for increased receipts by millers of approximately £170,000. These increases followed similar increases in the prices of imported offals reflecting changes in the world price."

That is to be found in Volume 149, column 515. I was rather interested to know how far this game had been carried on and, when I got the returns from the Central Statistics Office showing the number of sows for breeding, the number had dropped from 99,575 in 1954 to 79,818 in June of this year, showing a reduction of 19,757 sows, or 19.8 per cent.; and a reduction in the number of other pigs of 159,476 altogether. It showed that the pig industry in this country was sacrificed to the Minister's anxiety to find the money for the payment of the flour subsidy.

Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry and Commerce (Mr. Crotty):

Not at all.

Mr. Corry:

Yes. The Parliamentary Secretary is living in a rural area, and he has a fair idea of the value that 159,000 pigs would be to this country. The 159,000 pigs have disappeared. I was anxious to know what was the total amount of loot collected by the Minister in this manner and I put down a question here last week to find out exactly what was the amount. I got the extraordinary reply then from the Minister:—

"While the accounts furnished to me by flour millers show total receipts from sales of offals, they do not distinguish the amounts received from offal sales at different price levels. I am unable, therefore, to give the information sought by the Deputy."

The extraordinary thing was that, although that reply was given to me at 3 o'clock, when I raised the matter on the Adjournment at half-past ten last Wednesday night, the Parliamentary Secretary was then able to give me the figures I looked for and which were not available at 3 o'clock. The information I got—this is at column 494 of the Dáil Debates, Volume 154— was:—

"Adopting the same basis as that used in estimating the probable amount of subsidy payments in the financial year 1954-55, the increased receipts by millers from sales of wheaten offals from September, 1954, to August, 1955, have been calculated to amount to £431,000; and for the period from September, 1955, to the 1st February, 1956, to £186,000."

That £617,000 has been extracted from the pig feeders of this country from 30th August, 1954, to 1st February, 1956. It is no wonder that we find a reduction of 20 per cent. in the number of sows, and no wonder that we find a reduction of 17 per cent. in the total number of pigs in the country. We hear that the farmer does not pay any income-tax. That was a source of complaint amongst many people; but here is the one small section of the farming community picked out and fleeced of over £500,000 of money by the simple expedient of increasing the price of the home offals up to the level of the price of the imported offals.

One would expect, if there were imported offals coming in at a higher price and if the Minister was not prepared to give the farmer the benefit of the cheaper offals produced in this country by his fellow-farmers, that the Minister would say: "Well, we will lump them and we will divide the price." We have to pay £26 for imported offals, and at present the economic price of home offals is £18 a ton.

The Dáil adjourned at 10.30 p.m. until 3 p.m. on Thursday, 1st March, 1956.