asked the Minister for Industry, Commerce and Energy if he is aware that a diesel only filling station in County Meath (details supplied) had its supply allocation cut from 6,000 to 3,000 gallons per week; whether this cut reflects the general scale of the present diesel shortage; and the steps it is proposed to take to have this station's requirements filled.

I am not so aware. I am informed by the oil company concerned that they have been supplying the filling station in question only since October 1978 and that it is not correct to say that an allocation or quota of 6,000 gallons of gas/diesel oil per week was made. They also inform me that the average supply to the station in the period 1 October 1978 to 30 April 1979 was approximately 1,700 gallons per week.

Is the Minister aware that sales at this station were affected seriously because of the weather during January and the first half of February which affected the routing of traffic, and that in the latter part of March the station was receiving and selling 6,000 gallons a week, that it retained that level and that that was the amount being allocated to it and sold by it? Is he aware that that amount has now been cut to 3,000 gallons? Why has a cut on that scale been made? Why has any allocation been based on what happened last October, considering the current rate of sales?

The station in question never received the quantities suggested by the Deputy. The maximum amount that it ever received in any one month was 15,300 gallons in the month of March 1979, which is a long way short of the figure of 6,000 gallons a week which the Deputy mentions. In April 1979 it received 12,000 gallons which is well above the average of what its sales were since the company in question began to supply the station in October 1978.

Is the Minister aware that the weather improved so much in February that sales to this company increased sharply between the first and second halves, that the 15,000 figure for the month does not reflect the rate of sale for the latter half of the month, and that it has been cut back by half?

It has not been cut back by half and the present rate of supply to the station is away above the average of what it sought and obtained since October 1978.

Is the Minister aware that it only got going since October and as the weather diverted traffic it was a self-evident proposition? Is the Minister aware that the station was selling 6,000 gallons a week and that it has been cut to 3,000 gallons a week?

I have already told the Deputy that that is not so.

The Minister is not investigating that. Further, he is incorrectly informed.

4.