asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health whether he has fully considered the reactions of the foot-and-mouth disease crisis on the farmers' way of living, as in the absence of fairs and markets farmers have no means of finding cash to pay rates, and whether in the hope of an alternative source of income this year from the sale of corn crops the Minister will ease off the pressure for payment of rates on farmers so circumstanced, until after the harvest.

The county councils are giving the matter due consideration so far as may be necessary. There is generally very little pressure for payment of rates in the early portion of the financial year.