There is another aspect of this question of the price of publications. I think it ought to be the business of the Stationery Office to encourage the sale of official publications as widely as possible, and I suggest it could be done on the lines that Deputy O'Brien has hinted at, without loss, at any rate, to the Exchequer and with great advantage to the political education of the country. With that object in view, I would suggest whoever is to have charge in future of the official sale of these publications ought to be obliged to make the most of the agency. To put the corner of a shop and half the side of a window at the disposal of the Stationery Office for the sale of official publications is not satisfactory if one wants to encourage the sale of these publications. I would suggest, if there were a shop specially opened for the purpose of selling official documents not only of this Government, but official documents of all sorts of Governments of countries in all parts of the world, especially when they are printed in a language that can be understood by the common people, that it would add to the political education of the people and assist the student in comparing administrative and legislative methods here with similar work in other countries. The work of the Stationery Office need not be confined to the sale of the publications of the Saorstát. I suggest that there could be very satisfactory public work done by the encouragement of the sale of Blue Books, official publications, White Papers, Green Books, and any other coloured books of a public character from the various countries, especially those which print either translations into English or print the original documents in English. Occasionally I have been privileged to read translations into English of the official publications of quite a number of Governments, and they do throw some light upon the way a country can be administered, especially when one is dealing with economic and industrial aspects of government. I suggest that it is well worth while considering the desirability of really setting about this as a business with the intention of selling as large a number of publications as possible.
On the question of Irish paper, I am not quite sure that I understand the position of the Stationery Office. I took down the words of the Minister in his first statement, in which he said "that, subject to a preference for Irish-made goods, all the goods purchased were at the lowest price." We had a further explanation that from 10 to 12½ per cent. of preference was given to Irish-made paper. Is that the limit of preference? Is it a preference of that amount that is understood in the fixing of contracts and the making of purchases, and is there no greater preference given, or is there no preference given to Dublin-made paper as compared with Antrim or Ballyclaremade paper? I suggest that in view of the fiscal policy that the Government has adopted, if it can be called a policy, that there is reason for giving a greater preference to Dublin County made paper than the paper that is made in Ballyclare, and I would like to have an understanding that, to the fullest possible extent, Irish-made paper will be bought and used by the Stationery Office and by the printers who are printing for the Stationery Office, and that there should be a very stringent condition imposed upon the printers that the paper they are using is Irish-made paper. I hope that Ministers will consider in this question the necessity for keeping alive this industry, at any rate, provided that one can make sure, as I have no doubt at all it is possible to make sure, that the firm supplying the paper are not taking undue advantage of the preference promised. Where the firm is doing its work reasonably well and its reason for the extra price is only because of handicaps that they cannot overcome, the paper should be inevitably Irish-made paper. Here again we raise this very thorny question of the extent of preference, and the wisdom of buying in the cheapest market, and the further question of whether one is to allow the very cheap articles, produced under special circumstances, to influence the purchase price to the detriment of Irish manufacture. I would urge that this Department should be especially insistent upon the use of Irish-made paper and Irish printing, because we know, as a matter of fact, that there is good paper turned out in Ireland It is not now a question of experiment. There is good paper turned out, and one of the difficulties that have been met by the paper firms has been the opposition of artificially cheap productions. I submit that it is not good business for the State to allow the introduction of those artificially cheap products to come into unfair competition with Irish-made products, with the possible result of ruining the industry, and being unable within any reasonable period of time to revive it. I think the Minister would be well advised to tell us, or to reassure us more than he has done, what the policy of the Stationery Office is in regard to the amount of preference that it gives for Irish manufactured goods, and whether there is any preference given to good paper manufactured within the Saorstát as compared with Irish paper manufactured outside the Saorstát.