asked the Minister for Agriculture the amount of butter in stock; and if he is satisfied that such stocks will be sufficient to meet this country's full marketing requirements.

The quantity of creamery butter in stock on 30th April, 1964, was about 1,350 tons. It is quite normal that stocks are at a minimum at this time of the year and I am satisfied that production during the coming 12 months will be sufficient to meet requirements.

Could the Minister indicate if the stocks on hands at the moment are greater or less than the stocks at the same time last year?

They are less, for the reason that we had a carry-over of about 5,000 odd tons.

Is the Minister still absolutely satisfied that he will be able to meet all the marketing requirements, always taking into consideration that markets will, we hope, be expanding?

When the Deputy talks of marketing requirements, does he understand what that means?

I think so.

Does he mean that you have to satisfy the requirements of all markets at any price? The production of milk is constantly increasing. This year, so far, the milk intake at creameries is ten per cent higher than it was last year. It is a very useful exercise for Deputies to remember the difficulty of disposing of milk products in world markets and the cost to the taxpayers here of doing so.

Would the Minister have any idea of how much of that ten per cent is due to the weather?

The Almighty has to favour us an odd time.