asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce whether he is aware that a considerable number of flour mills in Cork City and County and throughout the Saorstát have been compelled to close down and many of those remaining are working on short time and hundreds of mill hands are necessarily disemployed, in consequence of the dumping of large quantities of foreign flour at dumping prices on the quays of Cork and other ports of the Saorstát; whether he is aware that this condition of affairs at Cork is aggravated by the fact that import dues collected in the Port of Cork by the Port Authorities are in effect favourable to the imports of flour as against wheat imports; whether he will, in the interests of the milling trade and the general public, investigate at an early date these rates, and also introduce legislation providing for a tariff on the flour imported into the Saorstát.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - POSITION OF THE MILLING TRADE.
All the main facts relating to the Irish flour milling industry are in my possession and are being carefully considered, but I must not be taken as necessarily accepting all the statements of fact in the question. The occasion for the introduction of any such legislation as is contemplated in the last part of the question is the Budget, which I am not in a position to anticipate.
Mr. HENNESSY
Is the Minister aware that further mills are closing down this week and that the employees have got a week's notice? As this is a matter of such urgency, would he communicate with the Port Authorities with a view to promoting private legislation to improve this position?