I move:
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £7,368,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st March, 1972, for the salaries and expenses of the Office of the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, including certain services administered by that Office, and for payment of certain subsidies, and sundry Grants-in-Aid.
The net amount of this Supplementary Estimate, added to the original Estimate for 1971-72, represents a total net provision of £80,140,000. This figure shows an increase of £10,663,990 on the final total Estimate for Agriculture, including the Supplementary Estimates, for 1970-71. Miscellaneous savings amounting to £1,178,000 have been taken into account.
The additional sum now required includes £1.6 million net for bovine tuberculosis eradication and £100,000 net for brucellosis eradication; £1.3 million for the beef cattle incentive scheme; £1.25 million for the farm buildings and water supplies schemes; £812,000 for the Land Project; £675,000 for bacon and pork export support; £550,000 for lime and fertilisers; £300,000 for sheep headage grants; £285,000 for county committees of agriculture; £166,000 for agricultural schools and £119,000 in respect of wheat losses. In the limited time available I propose to deal only with the more important items.
The continuing interest in the beef cattle incentive scheme will lead to payments to about 58,000 herdowners amounting to £6.6 million for the year as against the £5.3 million already provided. I am therefore providing in this Estimate a sum of £1.3 million to meet the additional cost of grants due to all eligible herdowners.
An additional sum of £675,000 is being provided in connection with the operation of the scheme of support prices for exports of bacon and pork. This includes the £0.5 million which, as announced in last year's Budget, is being provided because of further increases in pig production costs. It also includes a sum of £175,000 now estimated to be required for pigmeat export support on account of the increased exports of pigmeat and the higher rates of subsidy payable this year.
The original Estimate for the bovine tuberculosis eradication and brucellosis eradication schemes was £3.5 million net after sale of reactors. It now seems likely that actual net expenditure will turn out at £5.2 million, an increase of £1.7 million. Our cattle numbers have grown, with a consequent increase in the volume of testing. Cattle prices have improved considerably and the cost to the State of taking up reactors has risen. There has also been an increase in the fees paid to veterinary surgeons for work under both schemes.
The Estimates for my Department usually includes a token sum of £5 to enable payment to be made in any cases which may arise involving the compulsory slaughter of animals taken up under the diseases of animals legislation. In the current year it became necessary for my Department to take up a total of 44 animals for slaughter under the provisions of the Johne's Disease Order. A sum of about £4,000 for this is included in the Supplementary Estimate.
There is a provision for an extra £119,000 for recoupment of losses incurred as a result of purchases and resale of native wheat. Of this amount £62,000 is a balance due to An Bord Gráin in respect of losses in disposing of surplus millable wheat of the 1968 crop. The remainder relates to losses on disposal as feed in 1970 of 30,000 tons of surplus millable wheat held by the flour millers. The decline in bread consumption, coupled with the fact that modern harvesting methods allow smaller carry forward stocks, led to a build up of excessive stocks by the flour millers. By arrangement with the Irish Flour Millers' Association, the loss, amounting to £572,000 in all, is being paid in three annual instalments with appropriate bank interest. Liability in the current year is approximately £237,000 and it is necessary to provide £57,000 in addition to the original Estimate provision of £180,000.
Demand for the facilities provided by the Department's various development schemes continues at a high level. The fine autumn of 1971 resulted in a large number of Land Project works being completed and it is now expected that a further £812,000 will be required to meet expenditure to 31st March.
The additional and more attractive grants under the Farm Buildings and Water Supplies Schemes and the favourable weather during the year led to increased demand for the facilities of these schemes. The result is that grants are expected to total £4.075 million or £1.25 million more than the amount already provided.
An additional £550,000 is required to meet increased expenditure on limestone and fertilisers. A sum of £200,000 is accounted for by the high level of deliveries of ground limestone and the 12½ per cent increase in transport subsidy rates. Fertilisers require an additional £350,000 because the subsidy in respect of the exceptionally heavy consumption of fertilisers in the period February to April, 1971, fell to be met in the current financial year.
I am providing an extra £153,000 to enable payment to be made of the balance of the purchase money for Kildalton Agricultural and Horticultural College, and £13,000 to cover pay increases at agricultural schools generally.
The Grant-in-Aid to the Farm Apprenticeship Board is being increased by £4,000 to cover the needs of the board including the expenses incurred in the introduction of the recently announced new Trainee Farmer Scheme. This will cater for young men who will inherit farms but who cannot be spared from home for the full period of training required under the main Farm Apprenticeship Scheme.
In the case of grants to county committees of agriculture an additional £285,000 is required to meet increases in the salaries and travelling expenses of officers of the county committees and also in the cost of the schemes operated by the committees.
A token sum of £10 is included in this Supplementary Estimate in respect of dairy produce. Under the revised creamery milk price structure, the price payable to manufacturers for skim milk powder is stabilised at £185 per ton which is reckoned to provide for payment of a producer price of about 5p per gallon of skim milk. As facilities for the production of skim milk powder or whole milk products are not available in some areas, an Exchequer subsidy of 2½ per gallon is payable on such quantities of skim milk as are returned to suppliers. This subsidy is being paid by the Department to the suppliers through their creameries. In the current year the cost of this skim milk subsidy is expected to be £150,000 which will, however, be met from savings on other items.
I am providing £20,000 for fees to business consultants who are at present carrying out, for the information of my Department and the Department of Finance, a detailed survey of the operations of the Dairy Disposal Company. The aims of the survey are to evaluate and define the future commercial functioning of the company, to explore means of improving the company profitability, and to make recommendations in regard to the managerial requirements of the company. It is hoped that the survey will be completed in the very near future.
During the past year or so negotiations have taken place for the transfer of some of the company's interests to co-operative ownership. Negotiations for the transfer of four of the company's creamery groups have now been concluded or are at the point of being finalised. This is positive evidence of my aim to transfer the company's interests to co-operative societies and to assist the rationalisation of the creamery industry.
To stimulate further progress in sheep production, the 1971 Budget provided for an increase from £1.50 to £2 per head in the subsidy payable on hogget ewes. This increase in the rate of subsidy, together with an increase in the number of sheep qualifying under the sheep subsidy schemes, brings to £1.8 million the total requirement under this head, an increase of £300,000 on the original Estimate.
Finally, the Grant-in-Aid for the World Food Programme has been increased by £50,000 to cover the cost of sending an emergency consignment of skim milk powder to India last September for the relief of the victims of the civil strife in East Pakistan. The food was sent in response to an appeal by the Secretary General of the United Nations and a request by the Indian Government for assistance in coping with the vast influx of refugees into India at that time.