asked the Minister for Finance the amount of additional Exchequer subsidy required to maintain the existing price of bread, flour, milk, butter and dairy products at their level prior to the current Green £ revaluations.

: Of the commodities re-ferred to by the Deputy the only ones in respect of which a price increase has been recently announced are bread, butter and cheese.

While the increase in the price of butter can be attributed to the increase in the price of milk arising from the EEC farm prices agreement (including Green £ adjustment) which came into effect on 22 May, the increases in the case of bread and cheese arise from other factors, namely, higher wages and other processing costs. The extra subsidy that would be needed to offset the announced increase in the price of butter is estimated at £2.4 million for the remainder of 1978. The full year cost would be roughly double that amount.

17.

asked the Minister for Finance the amounts of Exchequer subsidies for 1976, 1977 and 1978 in respect of (a) bread and flour; (b) milk, butter and dairy products; and (c) town gas.

: The actual expenditure on Exchequer subsidies for 1976 and 1977 and the estimated expenditure for 1978 are given in a tabular statement which, with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I am having circulated with the Official Report:

Exchequer Expenditure on Consumer Subsidies.

(1) (a) This excludes an EEC contribution of £2.9 million in 1976, £5.4 million in 1977 and an estimated £7.2 million in 1978 in respect of butter.

(b) The only dairy product, apart from milk and butter, which has been subsidised is cheese. This subsidy was abolished as from 13 January 1978.

18.

asked the Minister for Finance the cost of an Exchequer subsidy of six-and-a-half pence per lb of butter, three-and-a-half pence per lb of cheese, and one penny a large loaf of bread.

: The cost to the Exchequer for the remainder of 1978 of the subsidies referred to is estimated at £2.4 million, £0.4 million and £1.25 million respectively. The full year cost to the Exchequer would be roughly double these amounts.

19.

asked the Minister for Finance if it is the intention of the Government to phase out food subsidies, and if so, when; and the effect which the removal of such subsidies will have on the consumer price index.

: I would refer the Deputy to pages 83 and 84 of the recently issued Green Paper on Development of Full Employment which discusses the future of food subsidies. This represents the most up-to-date Government thinking in the matter and I have nothing to add. The effect on the consumer price index of removal of the subsidies is also set out at page 83.

20.

asked the Minister for Finance the total expenditure on food subsidies as a percentage of total Government current expenditure for 1978.

: On the basis of the budget estimate of total Government current expenditure and of the voted provision made for food subsidies the percentage sought by the Deputy in respect of 1978 is 2.41.