asked the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to the state of the woollen industry in the Saorstát; if he is aware that production has for a considerable period been less than 30 per cent. of the maximum output, and that the loss in wages and the amount paid in unemployment benefit represent a great loss to the country due to the enormous dumping of tweeds of foreign manufacture; if he is aware that, in a recent issue of the "Textile Argus," under the title of Exports to the Irish Free State, it is asserted that the exports of woollens to Ireland have been greater during the year 1925 compared with the exports for seven years previously; and if, in view of the great loss to Irish workmen who were formerly engaged in the woollen trade, he will cause inquiries to me made with a view to saving Irish woollen mills from being extinguished.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - SAORSTÁT WOOLLEN INDUSTRY.
Representations on the subject of the position of the woollen industry have been received in my Department, and are at present under consideration.
Will the Minister state when he proposes to set up a Committee to inquire into the woollen industry? That Committee was promised last year by the Minister for Industry and Commerce.
I think that question should be addressed to the Minister for Industry and Commerce.
There is a Committee in being.