asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is considering a further increase in the price of bread; and, if so, if he will take into consideration the hardship an increase would impose on the poorer sections of the community.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Bread Price.
25.
I have received an application from the bakery trade for a further increase in the price of bread but I have deferred consideration of it for the present.
Can the Minister give an assurance that the price will not be increased?
On the poor?
Can the Deputy give the House an assurance that he will not beat his wife?
Stop the hypocrisy, now.
Not alone the Minister but the Government know that bread has increased in price very substantially in recent times. It is now causing very severe hardship to housewives with large families and to the poorer sections of the community in receipt of social welfare benefit. Bearing these facts in mind, can the Minister assure the House that there will be no further increases in the price of bread?
I can assure the House that, in the examination of any application for an increase in the price of bread or any other commodity, all the relevant factors will be taken into account before the Minister arrives at a decision.
Is it not a fact that, because this question was on the Order Paper today in relation to the price of bread, the Minister for Industry and Commerce himself is absent from the House?
Deputies
Hear, hear.
The Deputy ought to know better than that. The Minister for Industry and Commerce has had cause in the past to give worry to Deputy Flanagan. He will give Deputy Flanagan even greater worry in the future.
When will an inquiry be held into the price of bread?
Has the Deputy in mind a public inquiry?
Yes. The Minister said consideration is deferred for the present. Does that mean that there will be no public inquiry?
There is no decision at the moment to have a public inquiry. There have been a number of public inquiries in the past and the results have been made available. Deputy Desmond knows a good deal about it because he served on one of them. The results show it is not as easy to get rid of unpalatable facts relating to increased costs as Deputies would like to imply in the manner in which the questions are put.
The practice is that when a by-election is pending a standstill takes place. There is none pending at the moment.
(Interruptions.)
A new Taoiseach.
I take it the Minister is aware that the price of bread is now three times what it was when the Fianna Fáil Party returned to office in 1957?
More than three times.
That was when Deputy O'Donovan was there.
We kept down prices.
Question No. 26 to the Minister for Justice.
(Interruptions.)