I addressed a question to the Minister for Agriculture at Question Time to-day, asking him to reply to three points: (a) the reason for the delay in sanctioning a refund of the wheat levy and other price deductions to wheat producers; (b) the amount per barrel which will be refunded; and (c) the date on which farmers will receive payment. The Minister did not reply to any one of these points, except to say that he hoped he would be able to make an announcement on the matter before the end of the month. It is the kind of undertaking he gave before in connection with the announcement of milk prices.
We know very well that the Minister does not like the farmers and that they do not like him. That stretches back over a number of years, but now, in his office as Minister for Agriculture, his dog in the manger attitude towards them has no justification in relation to this wheat fund. This was a live issue during the summer session—the question of the setting up of a price-cutting board, a board which was set up to take 5/9 a barrel, in addition to other deductions, from the price of wheat which would go into a fund in order to level out the price, if a surplus had been produced. Approximately £500,000 was taken from the farmers in that way.
Most of the wheat was delivered before October and certainly before the end of November. We have been asking the Minister what is the reason for the delay, but he will not tell us. Obviously, the Department have done their work and probably they have received the necessary report from the Wheat Board. The Minister has also had consultations with the farmers' organisations so that it is obvious that he could give the money back to the farmers to-morrow, if he were prepared to do so.
Let us see what problems are created by this delay. Does the Minister know, for instance, that the wheat growers last year spent about £500,000 on combines and that many of those combines were purchased through hire-purchase arrangements. This money is being withheld from the farmers who could use it in order to pay their instalments. In addition to that £500,000 spent on, I think, 500 combines, there was a further £500,000 spent on harvesting equipment and that also was obtained on the instalment system either through the Agricultural Credit Corporation or the various finance corporations. In addition to the wheat levy of 5/9, those who took in the wheat applied deductions which never were applied before—"screenings" and other descriptions were given as excuses for the deductions—and all these deductions were taken from the net price paid to the farmers.
It was shown very clearly to the Minister that there was no legal authority or right to hold that money back from the wheat growers because it was intended to have it in the event of a surplus, which did not result from the harvest. There has been no surplus. We have seen that arrangements have been made to import vast quantities of wheat this year; probably more wheat will be imported during this year than was imported at any time since before the war, with the exception of the war years.
By his stubborn silence in relation to this matter in the last few months, the Minister has shown that he has no sympathy whatever for the wheat growers; but he took advantage of his position in past years by making these matters issues at elections on several occasions. It is very disappointing for many of the wheat growers to find now that the Minister and the Government are not prepared to stand over the undertakings given on the radio on the eve of the general election. At that time, the farmers expected to get a better price than they were getting at the time of the announcement on the radio. Instead of that, the average price has been reduced by more than 15/- a barrel since the night of that announcement by the Minister for Finance.
There is also the question of having the cash for the purchase of seeds and fertilisers. The position this year is not the same as it was last year, because many of the seedsmen will be unable to give the credit which they gave in previous years, owing to last year's disastrous harvest, and the fact that many of them even now have not been paid in respect of the wheat harvest of 1958. They are faced now with farmers trying to get seeds on credit again this year, but they are unable to give the necessary credit. This cash which is being held back from the farmers would enable them to purchase the necessary seed wheat, the price of which is very high this year.
I feel the Minister is just showing contempt for the wheat growers and the House by remaining mute of malice. It is obvious that he is one of the few persons in the Fianna Fáil Party who has shown his opposition, his determined opposition to wheat growing. Many of them have pretended in the past to be in favour of it, but we have heard very little from them since last summer when this Wheat Board was set up.
