asked the Minister for Agriculture whether he will cause enquiry to be made into the reason why pig producers in this country are receiving only 97/- per cwt, for grade A pigs while bacon is realising 133/- on the British market and an equivalent price on the home market.

The relationship between the price charged for bacon and the price for pigs is kept under constant review by the Prices Commission. The price paid for pigs in Class I has recently been increased to 102/- per ewt. The price of 133/6 per cwt. paid for our bacon in Great Britain applies to portion only of the bacon exported. For bacon which is being sent on the additional quota recently secured the price has not yet been definitely fixed. The average price realised on the home market is not equivalent to the 133/6 paid by the British Ministry for some of our bacon.

Is the Minister aware that since this question was put on the Order Paper the price of pork has increased by 5/- to 102/- per cwt., and is he further aware that at the price charged, 140/- here, the bacon curers could well afford to pay 108/-, as is the case in Northern Ireland?

When did the Prices Commission, which is supposed to deal with these matters according to the Minister for Supplies, fix this price?

They examine it from time to time.

The Prices Commission?

The Prices Department or whatever it is called.

Is the Minister aware that curers could afford to pay 108/- per cwt. and make a handsome profit and that they are gratuitously withholding 6/- per cwt. from the people because there is nobody to make them pay it?

I do not want to dispute what the Deputy says. It is possible that the curers may be making too much but the commission has recently succeeded in getting a costings officer of good experience and, when we get a report through that officer, which we expect to get in the course of two or three months, we may be able to find out definitely whether the curers are making too much or not.

Is not the Minister aware that, in open defiance of the law, many curers are paying 105/- and 106/- for pork and why will he not insist on that as the minimum price? Certain curers, of their own volition, are paying 105/- at present?

That is not my function.

Is the Minister not aware that, at the time he was standing over a price of 97/-, certain curers were, in open defiance of the law, giving 105/- —8/- above the fixed price. That is being done at the present moment.

I know all that, but the Deputy ought to know that I did not stand over any price—whether 97/- or 105/-. That is not my function. The Pigs and Bacon Commission fixed the price of pigs and I have no more to do with the matter than the Deputy has.

Are there not two officers of the Minister's Department on the Pigs Tribunal?

Yes.

Is it the Minister's contention that this House is to sit silent while the bacon ring are publicly robbing the producers and when there is evidence that certain curers are prepared to pay 105/- in defiance of the law? How long are we to sit here and let that go on? Surely the Minister can do something about it?

No, unless we change the law.

Let us change the law.

Did the Minister prevent a bonus being paid a little while ago when pigs were 97/-? Did he prevent a bonus of 5/- being paid then?

I did not.

I have knowledge of a public board to which bacon curers were paying a bonus and a communication was received from the Minister's Department saying it was illegal to have this done.

Possibly it was illegal, but I do not think the Pigs and Bacon Commission took any action, even though it was illegal.

Let us change the law if that is necessary.

Will the Minister take action now in connection with the bonus?

Will the Minister get the producers 105/-?

The Deputy knows the position and, if members on the opposite side want to make propaganda out of it, they should make it outside.

Surely the Minister will agree that if the law requires to be changed in order to get people the value of their pigs, it should be changed. If there is any power which the Minister has not got and which is necessary to prevent our people from being robbed by the bacon ring, surely the Minister can consult the Executive and have an order made giving him all the powers he requires to prevent that exploitation.

I admire the Deputy's ability to work himself into a heat but he had just as much to do with the law giving the commission power to deal with this matter as I had. If I had proposed to take these powers I am sure Deputies on the opposite side would have objected.

We warned you that the tribunal would not do the job. I do not want to re-open that case. Now that they have failed to do the job, will you take powers to get the job done? I do not care how you do it if you get people the value of their pigs. If you do not get that, with the rising cost of feeding stuffs, we shall have another disaster and people will go out of pigs. Pigs will pay and everybody should be producing more and more pigs but they will not produce them if the Minister will not get them a fair price.

I do not want to be put in the position of standing up for the pig producers, but I ask any independent Deputy, who does not want to make propaganda out of the matter, to examine the matter. If he does, he will find that bacon is being sold here at a smaller margin as compared with the price of pigs than it is being sold in Great Britain or Northern Ireland.

Is it not strange that, when a public board inquires about a certain bonus which is being paid, they get a communication from your Department saying it was wrong to take the bonus? Why not take the necessary steps to put the matter right?

Were the board producers in that case?

Yes. Why not take the necessary steps to enable the producer to get what he can for his bacon?