(Limerick West) asked the Minister for Agriculture in view of the information sought in Parliamentary Question No. 167 of 11 June 1985 and his reply that no published estimates of total interest paid by farmers are available, if his attention has been drawn to the figure of £220 million as published in The Sunday Tribune of 23 September 1984, and the fact that the accuracy of this figure is readily verifiable by referring to the ACC and the Central Bank; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Farmers' Interest Payments.
26.
Mr. Noonan
As indicated in my reply to Question No. 167 of 11 June the banks do not publish any official estimate of total interest payments by farmers. The figure given for 1983 in The Sunday Tribune of 23 September last was an estimate provided by an official of one bank. Any apparent discrepancy between this figure and an estimate by An Foras Talúntais in relation to interest payments on purely agricultural borrowings based on a sample of individual farmers would be a matter for the two interests concerned.