asked the Taoiseach if he will state separately in respect of each agricultural wages area (a) the present adult minimum rate and the date from which it operated, and (b) the estimated rate of wages required, at each subsequent quarter-year publication of the consumer price index, to restore the minimum agricultural wages in each case to the value obtaining at the end of May, 1956.
Written Answers. - Agricultural Wages.
(a) The present minimum wage rates for agricultural workers are prescribed under the Agricultural Wages (Minimum Rates) Order, 1956, which came into operation on the 28th May, 1956. The minimum weekly wage rates for males aged 19 years or over for a "week in which 50 hours' work is done (exclusive of work on Sunday or weekly half-holiday)" prescribed in this Order are £5 6s. 0d. in Group A areas; £5 0s. 0d. in Group B areas; and £4 15s. 0d. in Group C areas. Minimum rates of wages have not been prescribed for female agricultural workers employed outside of Counties Dublin and Kildare; the minimum weekly wage rates for females aged 19 years or over for a "week in which 48 hours' work is done (exclusive of work on Sunday or weekly half-holiday)"are £3 8s. 0d. in Dublin County Borough and County and £3 0s. 0d. in County Kildare.
(b) The following table shows the consumer price index from mid-May, 1956, to mid-February, 1958, and the five rates specified at (a) above adjusted (to the nearest penny) in proportion to the changes in the consumer price index since mid-May, 1956 (the nearest date to 28th May, 1956, for which the index was computed).
|
Date |
Consumer Price Index (Base: mid-August, 1947=100) |
Minimum agricultural wage rates specified at (a) above adjusted in proportion to the changes in the Consumer Price Index between mid-May, 1956 and the date specified in Column (1) |
|||||||||||||||
|
Males aged 19 years or over |
Males aged 19 years or over |
||||||||||||||||
|
in Group A areas |
in Group B areas |
in Group C areas |
in Dublin C.B. and County Dublin |
in County Kildare |
|||||||||||||
|
(1) |
(2) |
(3) |
(4) |
(5) |
(6) |
(7) |
|||||||||||
|
£ |
s. |
d. |
£ |
s. |
d. |
£ |
s. |
d. |
£ |
s. |
d. |
£ |
s. |
d. |
|||
|
1956 |
Mid-May |
134 |
5 |
6 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
15 |
0 |
3 |
8 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
|
Mid-August |
135 |
5 |
6 |
9 |
5 |
0 |
9 |
4 |
15 |
9 |
3 |
8 |
6 |
3 |
0 |
5 |
|
|
Mid-November |
134 |
5 |
6 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
15 |
0 |
3 |
8 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
1957 |
Mid-February |
135 |
5 |
6 |
9 |
5 |
0 |
9 |
4 |
15 |
9 |
3 |
8 |
6 |
3 |
0 |
5 |
|
Mid-May |
138 |
5 |
9 |
2 |
5 |
3 |
0 |
4 |
17 |
10 |
3 |
10 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
9 |
|
|
Mid-August |
143 |
5 |
13 |
1 |
5 |
6 |
9 |
5 |
1 |
5 |
3 |
12 |
7 |
3 |
4 |
0 |
|
|
Mid-November |
142 |
5 |
12 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
8 |
3 |
12 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
7 |
|
|
1958 |
Mid-February |
144 |
5 |
13 |
11 |
5 |
7 |
6 |
5 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
13 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
6 |