asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries if he will instruct county committees of agriculture to request their advisers to take a stock census which will establish the feed and fodder position of each farm in their areas.

If I were to ask the advisory officers to make a full and complete survey of every farm, they would have no time whatsoever to carry out their normal work.

Would the Minister not think it would have been time well spent from other duties to assess this? Does he not realise that many farmers in the planning situation sold their cattle at £4 and £5 per cwt? Had they known of the availability of feed and had a stock census been taken at harvest time, this might not have been the case.

Most people know the number of livestock in the country. They are also aware that there is insufficient fodder, generally speaking. This is not a new phenomenon incidentally. I never remember a year when farmers had enough fodder for the entire winter. It is not a practical proposition to suggest that within the time available this survey would be completed by the 375 advisers in the field. We have in excess of seven million cattle and 160,000 farmers. This is not a possibility.

At the present time when there is less work for inspectors in grass seed, oats and so forth, could they not have been employed to secure that information?

If the Deputy is suggesting that there are people working for the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries who are half idle at the moment, I would not accept that suggestion.

I am not suggesting that. What I am asking is if these men could not have been taken from that work for two or three months to compile this information. If the farmers had known that feed would have been available, they would not have brought their cattle to the market and sold them——

The Deputy is entering into the realm of a debate.

——for a fraction of their cost when they were dropped calves.

What the Deputy is suggesting is being done in a general way. The advisers know which farmers in their areas are in serious trouble.

Have the Department any way of bringing that information to the farmers?

I have given the Deputy a lot of latitude. We must make progress.

3.

asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries if he will give an up-to-date account of the extent and availability of fodder for cattle during the coming six months.

In some parts of the country, mainly western areas, supplies of fodder are likely to be tight this winter. In view of this I have arranged for the introduction of special measures to help the smaller farmers concerned. These comprise loans at reduced interest and a feed voucher scheme under which farmers are assisted to buy grain and concerntrates, of which adequate supplies are available. Disposal of cattle through slaughterings at meat factories and through exports on the hoof have been at record levels for some time past and this reduction of stocks will also help to reduce fodder difficulties.

On what is the Minister basing his information with regard to the scarcity of fodder? This also applies to Question No. 2.

Some considerable time ago I asked the advisory services to make a general assessment of the situation. Their advice is continually coming to my Department.

Is the Minister satisfied that the grants and the loans at special interest rates are sufficient to enable those with young stock, particularly those in the west and south-west, to buy fodder for their animals? Is the Minister aware that there is an extreme scarcity of fodder?

I am satisfied they represent a substantial help to people who are in difficulty about fodder. While the maximum amount issued in the first instance is assistance to buy a ton of fodder—£30 of a subsidy on a ton of fodder—I am hoping that the fund will be large enough to continue this for the period the people need it.

Can the Minister state the extent of the export of fodder in recent weeks? We have had a large traffic in cross-Border activities in this regard and I should like to know what action the Minister, or any other Minister, proposes to take to prevent this happening.

As I explained to the House, there is no action open to me. There is free movement of grain throughout the Community and there is no action I can take to prevent this. There is no scarcity of grain. If we were to do what the Deputy is suggesting we could not import the large amount of grain we require for our own purposes.

Deputy Callanan.

Would the Minister agree that there has been a lot of exporting of grain across the Border?

The Chair has called another Deputy and must be obeyed.

Deputy Callanan, I am sure, will give way to me to ask my supplementary.

It is all right if the Deputy defers but the Chair must not be ignored. Will Deputy Callanan give way?

I suppose I have to.

I am thankful to the Chair who is so kind, generous and thoughtful.

The Deputy should have obeyed the Chair in the first instance when he heard his colleague called.

Would the Minister agree that the situation would be relieved if greater efforts were made to find markets abroad in third countries for our young cattle?

I emphatically deny and contradict that. The maximum effort has been made to find markets abroad.

It is hyprocrisy on the Minister's part to say that when he knows the opposite to be true.

Is the Minister aware that because the price of grain is increasing so rapidly there is a danger that the £30 per ton subsidy will be eaten up? The price of grain has already increased because everybody is availing of the subsidy.

I can do nothing about the movement of grain. Of course, there has been some movement up in price but it has not been a very rapid one.

The Minister is giving farmers money to compete with each other to borrow money but he will not put a price control on feedingstuffs.

I am talking about the grain at home.

I have no power to put on any controls.

The Government have.

The Government have not in this instance.

Can the Minister say what the position is about hay and straw exports?

Within the Community I can do nothing about their export.

Can the Minister not check with the millers and compounders and keep some control on them because it is these people who are exporting?

They are exporting legally.

The Chair is calling the next question.

Is the Minister aware that there has been an increase of between £3 and £4 per ton in the price of grain in the last week?

4.

asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries if cattle feed vouchers will be issued to farmers in the State; and whether the amount of money allocated will be sufficient to meet the demand.

5.

asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries the number of applications received to date for financial aid either in grant or loan form to help keep cattle during the winter; and the total amounts of money already disbursed.

With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle I propose to take Questions Nos. 4 and 5 together.

As I announced on the 8th November, the meat exporters, at my request, agreed in mid-October to contribute 1p per 1b, up to the end of December, on all beef sold into intervention, the proceeds to be used to assist farmers in difficulty to feed young stock over the winter. Feed vouchers financed under this arrangement have been made available by the Irish Fresh Meat Exporters Society and these are currently being distributed through the local services of my Department and the county committees of agriculture.

By the end of last week some 21,000 applications for vouchers had been received. These are being examined as a matter of urgency and the distribution of vouchers, which applicants will use in part-payment for feed, has now commenced.

It is not possible at this stage to indicate the extent of the likely demand. The amount of money available will, of course, depend on the quantities of beef sold into intervention up to the end of the year.

With regard to the new subsidised loan scheme which I also announced on 8th November, the number of applications received to date is 210. Sixteen loans, totalling £5,650, have been granted by the ACC.

Can the Minister say if all genuine applications for financial aid will be met?

All applications that come within the requirements as advertised will be met.

Does the Minister not agree that because of the big number of applicants for this subsidy the price will increase? While there is no control on the export of fodder surely the Minister has control over the home millers?

The price of feeding-stuffs has been decontrolled. This was done because everybody in the business felt it was the best way to keep prices down.

It was not the feeling of everybody concerned.