§ 75. Mr. LOUGHasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether the representatives of the Irish Food Control Committee who attended the Pig Fair at Roscommon on Tuesday had any power to regulate the price of the animals; whether he attended merely to enforce the uneconomic price fixed in London; and, having regard to the difficulties the police experienced in saving his life and the action which has been taken in Dublin and elsewhere in Ireland, he can announce that the Food Ministry here will now desist from the effort to obtain from Ireland beef, bacon, and butter, her principal agricultural products so much needed by the people, at prices which have been placed at figures so low as to be unremunerative to the producer?
Mr. PARKERThe representative of the Irish Food Control Committee who attended the Pig Fair at Roscommon on 26th February had no power to regulate the prices of the pigs sold at the fair, nor did he attempt to do so, his duty being to see that the maximum prices prescribed by the Food Controller for live pigs and for pork were not exceeded. I cannot agree that the prices fixed for the various articles of agricultural produce specified in the question are unremunerative to the producer.