asked the Minister for Agriculture if, having regard to the importance of the egg industry to small farmers and agricultural labourers, and the amount of employment it affords, he will increase the bounty on their export to enable exporters to pay the same price for eggs in the Saorstát as in Northern Ireland.

I am not prepared to recommend any increase in the rate of bounty at present paid on eggs exported from the Saorstát.

Is the Minister aware that fully fifty per cent. of the hens are on strike at the present moment? They are laying no eggs on account of the admixture of home grain with maize?

I maintain that a great necessity exists for an increased bounty. Notwithstanding the statement made by the Minister the other evening that prices were better here than across the Border, I am in a position to give him quotations showing the marked discrepancy between the prices in the Saorstát and in Northern Ireland.