asked the Taoiseach if he will state the estimated cost to agricultural employers in the group B areas, as defined by the Agricultural Wages Board, of increasing the minimum rate of wages for agricultural workers to £7 4s. per week, which is the minimum wage now paid to farm workers in County Derry; and the estimated cost to agricultural employers of paying a minimum wage of £7 4s. to adult farm workers, having regard to the estimated number of such workers now employed in the Group B areas.
Written Answers. - Agricultural Wages.
76.
The cost of increasing the minimum weekly rate of agricultural workers 20 years of age and over in the Group B Area, as defined in the Agricultural Wages (Minimum Rates) Order, 1959, to £7 4s. is estimated at £1,009,000 on the basis of the number of permanent male agricultural workers in this Area in June, 1958. The estimated total cost of paying a weekly rate of £7 4s. to these workers is £3,823,000 per annum.