asked the Taoiseach whether in his reply of 10th February, 1960, concerning the expenses of agriculture provision was made for interest payments; if so, if he will give separate details in regard to such payments and the basis of calculation; and, if not, whether the Quarterly Statistical Bulletin of the Central Bank and the Gilmore Survey of Agricultural Credit in Ireland provide a fair basis of calculation.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Expenses of Agriculture.
2.
The estimates of the expenses of agriculture given in my reply of 10th February, 1960, referred to by the Deputy, do not include any estimate of the actual or imputed interest payments by farmers. The methods used in national income accounting have been applied in this instance and, since these concepts regard interest payments as being paid out of the profits of enterprises, it has not been necessary to make a separate estimation of the portion of agricultural profits which may be classed as interest. In this connection I may also add that interest received by farmers, whether on bank deposits or investments, is not included in agricultural income.
It is presumed that the data in the Quarterly Statistical Bulletin of the Central Bank which the Deputy has in mind, are the figures given in Table VI of that publication for bank advances to “Farmers and Agriculture”. It is not considered that these data constitute an adequate basis for the estimation of interest payments by farmers to banks in respect of the credit which they have received for utilisation in their agricultural enterprises, since it is understood that the totals given include advances to farmers for other purposes as well as for productive investment in agriculture, and it is not possible to distinguish these two elements.
It is also assumed that the reference to "A Survey of Agricultural Credit in Ireland" by Fred W. Gilmore relates to the use to be made in this connection of certain of the items included on the liability side of the "Estimated Balance Sheet of Agriculture" on page 3 of that document. The methods of estimating the data in question are fully explained in the notes appended to the table and are the responsibility of the author. There are considerable shortcomings, of the type already mentioned, in this material as a basis for calculating the interest payments made by farmers in respect of credit used for the purpose of their agricultural enterprises, since certain of the items in question include the indebtedness of farmers in their personal capacity and the information required to distinguish this element is not in general available.