asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will state what quantity of ware potatoes has been released by the Potato Marketing Board to potato factors in Dublin, the price at which they were released, where they were procured, whether they were originally intended for export, and the price the producer received for them; and, further, if he will assure the House that these potatoes were retailed in Dublin.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Ware Potatoes.
asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will state how he expected to singe the fingers of potato speculators by the release in Dublin of 2,000 tons of ware potatoes at £14 per ton, and if he will further state whether the price of £14 per ton charged can be taken as indicating what he regards as a fair price.
With your permission, a Chinn Chomhairle, it is proposed to take Questions Nos. 8 and 9 together. As intimated in my reply to a question on this subject on the 2nd instant, I am taking action to counter an attempt to corner the ware potato market made by speculators, who, as I foresaw, have now burnt their fingers badly. I do not propose to help speculative buyers by giving any further information on the matter at this stage. I would, however, like to point out to the Deputy that the action already taken has resulted in ample supplies of potatoes being made available at lower prices, and this was the objective aimed at.
Will the Minister say why it is, if potatoes are available in Dublin in the producer-consumer market at 2/3 a stone, his Department or the Department of Industry and Commerce have not taken action to ensure that consumers of potatoes all over the city will be able to secure supplies at that price?
My information is that consumers can secure supplies of potatoes at 2/6 pretty generally. It is not my duty to command housewives in this city where they are to buy their potatoes. That is a matter for themselves. My duty was to see that there would be at least one centre where potatoes would be available at a price which was reasonable and which was within the housewives' capacity to pay. I think that has been achieved. That is the purpose I set out to achieve, not to dictate to the housewives of the city, how, where and when they were to buy their supplies.
Would the Minister consider diverting some of these supplies out to Dún Laoghaire where the poorer people are being charged 3/- a stone?
Does the Minister not think it reasonable that Deputies on this side expect that he would be able to tell the House the price at which potatoes were released by his Department in the Dublin market, the quantity so released, and entitled also to expect him to tell the House what is to become of any difference that may exist between the price at which they were released and the price which might have been secured for them if they had been exported from Dublin?
Certainly, I shall put unreservedly at the Deputy's disposal the fullest possible information so soon as the attempt to corner the potato market by racketeers has been effectively countered. I expect that I shall be in a position to give him that information on this day fortnight. I have no doubt that once he understands that it would be of material assistance to speculators to be advised of the detailed information which he now bespeaks, he will agree that it would be unwise to make that information public now. If he will put down a similar question on this day fortnight the fullest detailed information will be placed at his disposal.