asked the Minister for Lands and Fisheries if he is aware that no lobster fishing is being undertaken on the Donegal coast this season because the fishermen cannot dispose of lobsters at an economic price and if he will take steps forthwith to provide a bounty and enable the Sea Fisheries Association to market all shellfish caught in the Free State at a price which will secure a fair return for the fishermen.

I am informed that the bulk of the Donegal lobster fishing does not commence until after the herring and salmon fishing ends in June-July. The question of whether a bounty on exports of lobsters can be paid is being considered.

Might I ask the Parliamentary Secretary where he got his information? Might I ask him also if he is aware that in parts of Donegal and in other parts of the Gaeltacht lobster fishing begins in April and in the vast majority of cases it begins in May, and might I inquire if he will share with me the view that if that is the kind of information the Department of Lands and Fisheries is getting, the sooner the Department gets an overhaul the better.

Question 43.

Might I again ask the Parliamentary Secretary if he would tell us where he gets his information? It is perfectly preposterous that he should give the House the information he has been giving it. Where did the Parliamentary Secretary get his information?

It is perfectly obvious to the Deputy where I got my information.

Then all I would say is that I would ask the Parliamentary Secretary whether he would agree with me that it is time the Department should be overhauled?

I agree with the Deputy in very few things.

Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that lobster fishing is in full swing, and has been in full swing in Cork and Kerry for some time, and would he tell the House whether the Commissioners in connection with the Gaeltacht have made any representations to him in this matter?

And might I further ask the Parliamentary Secretary whether the Parliamentary Secretary's colleagues in Donegal have become dumb since this question was first asked?

In reply to Deputy Mulcahy, I am aware that lobster fishing has been in progress in the districts to which he refers, and I hope to be able to reach a decision on this question of bounty in the course of the next few days.

Will the Parliamentary Secretary, in considering the matter of the bounty, consider whether it should not be made retrospective?

Like the cuts.

Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that the reply he has given in the matter of lobster fishing is not incorrect?

Now, we know where the Parliamentary Secretary gets his information.