HC Deb 22 March 1917 vol 91 cc2028-9
20. Mr. BYRNE

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if instructions will be issued to prohibit the exporting of all classes of foodstuffs from Ireland; if he is aware that, as a result of the prices being offered by English buyers, unemployment and low wages, the Irish people are in many towns and cities not able to purchase the ordinary necessaries of life; and if he will state the Government proposals in this matter?

Mr. DUKE

The Department of Agriculture see no reason for the prohibition of the export of all foodstuffs from Ireland, and think it well to indicate that the chief items in the food of the poorer classes in the towns and cities of Ireland, e.g., breadstuffs, tea and sugar, at present are not home-grown but imported.

Mr. BYRNE

May I ask if potatoes are not one of the principal foodstuffs of the poor people of Ireland, and if there is a scarcity there at the present moment?

Mr. DUKE

I have answered the hon. Member's questions about potatoes, I should think, at least half a dozen times in the last fortnight.

Mr. BYRNE

The answers conveyed nothing.