Edition Bobbett1. Texts by Elizabeth F. Bobbett: 1.1.3. Correspondence, Letters to newspapers

1946 Elizabeth Bobbett: Letter to the Wicklow People, 16.11.1946

Correspondence. The Egg Export Agreement

Under the above heading you published a letter in “The Wicklow People” of 2nd November signed by Mr. Thomas O’Reilly, 25 St. Canice’s Road, Glasnevin, Dublin, in which he tried to paint the new egg export agreement in glowing colours. He takes 19 paragraphs and a large portion of the alphabet to go into details of our numbers of poultry and all the eggs they produce and how many eggs every class of person eats. If we farmers could eat all the eggs he says we do eat, we must have wonderful digestions no doubt, but I doubt if any person in rural Ireland will swallow Mr. O’Reilly’s statements.

I would like to know from what source he took his figures. His very first statement is 1) There are not less than ten million laying hens in Eire. 2) On average they lay not less than 11 eggs per year each. 3) Annual production is therefore 1,150,000,000 eggs per year (one thousand one hundred and fifty million eggs per year). Now the following figures taken from the Statistical Abstract of 1942 will throw some light on the matter: Year 1941: Number of poultry ordinary fowl over six months are 8,813,963, and under six months are 5,584,828; total 14,398,791 ordinary fowl, which of course includes cocks and chicks as well as laying hens. Also for the year 1940/41 the estimated output of ordinary fowl is stated as 7,688,000, and the estimated output of eggs for the same year is stated as 7,774,000. As the number of our poultry have not increased to any great extent if at all from 1941 I leave it to Mr. O’Reilly to fill the gap as to where he arrived at the figure of one thousand one hundred and fifty million eggs per year.

In paragraph 6) he states that the farming community of Eire, large and small and their families eat 400 eggs per person each year, and in paragraph 19) after previously suggesting that the farmers’ families should eat less eggs so as to have more to export, he says farmers’ families could cut down their egg eating by three eggs a week per person in the months of plentiful supply (when thousands and thousands of farmers’ families eat at least 15 eggs per person per week) it will amount to close on 200,000 more cases of eggs in the year for export.

His paragraph 16) is the cream of the article. It says: “The prices offered to us by the British Minister for Food are several shillings higher per 120 eggs than have been offered to any other country which will be sending eggs to Britain.” Well, we need not go across the water to correct that; we need only look over the Border, where our sisters (I say sisters, as it is the women folk have most to do with egg production) get 3/6 per dozen all the year round for their eggs, while we are offered 2/9 as the big increase.

Now I would be the last person in the world to throw cold water on any scheme that would help to increase agricultural production in Eire, as agriculture is and always will be our main Industry, but in considering the causes for the decline in our poultry production, chiefly in egg production, I would try and find the cause for that decline. Any poultry keeper will tell you that the price paid for eggs was not considered sufficient to cover costs of production and leave a fair return to cover labour. Please remember that be it family labour or hired labour, the labourer is worthy of his hire.

Now there is a very important point that I would like to make in regard to the export price for our eggs. It is this: As long as our currency is controlled by Britain she dictates the price to suit herself as to what she will pay for our produce, and she also dictates the price which we must pay her for all we want to import, so it’s a case of “Heads I win Tails you lose” every time.

If our Parliament had the control of the credit of the nation with the power to issue our own currency backed by the credit of the Irish people, our ability to produce our Government could then make a long term agreement to purchase our eggs, bacon, butter, etc. at “just prices” and pay our farmers for them. The Government could then export them on whatever terms they liked to any country. Under such an agreement our farmers could continue to increase production.

Finally, I would like to ask Mr. O’Reilly why he would suggest that the farmers and their families should be the persons to reduce their egg consumption. It would be more in line if he made that suggestion to those people living in cities and towns – people who can run out of the house or office or shop and get a pint of stout or other beer and a sandwich, or go to a restaurant and get a meal. He fails to appreciate the fact that farmers are often five miles from a town, and have no place to buy fresh meat, and we all do not kill our own pigs. Neither can we go out to buy extra meals, so why should the farmers (who have hard manual work to do and long hours) be asked to tighten their belts in order to provide more eggs for export? It is a well-known fact that farmers who sell eggs (like farmers who sell milk) are very saving on what is used in the household. Mr. O’Reilly omitted to state how many eggs were used for hatching purposes each year and the number that came to maturity. Elizabeth F. Bobbett. Springfield, Wicklow.