asked the Minister for Finance if he will state (a) the number of licences authorising the importation without payment of the duty on woven tissue for hats and caps under Section 34 (1) (b) of the Finance Act, 1932, which have been issued since the 1st April last to the latest available date; (b) the quantity of the article or commodity permitted to be imported under such licences; and (c) the number, if any, of applications for such licences which have been refused and the reason for refusal in each case.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Issue of Import Licences.
asked the Minister for Finance if he will state (a) the number of licences authorising the importation without payment of the duty on knitted fabric, etc., under Reference No. 37 of the First Schedule of the Finance Act, 1932, which have been issued since the 1st April last to the latest available date; (b) the quantity of the article or commodity permitted to be imported under such licences; and (c) the number, if any, of applications for such licences which have been refused and the reason for refusal in each case.
asked the Minister for Finance if he will state (a) the number of licences authorising the importation without payment of the duty on manufactures of iron or steel wire under Reference No. 17 of the First Schedule of the Finance Act, 1932, which have been issued since the 1st April last to the latest available date; (b) the quantity of the article or commodity permitted to be imported under such licences; and (c) the number, if any, of applications for such licences which have been refused and the reason for refusal in each case.
I propose to deal with Questions 10, 11 and 12 together. The reply dealing with parts (a) and (b) of each of these Questions takes the form of a tabular statement and will be circulated with the Official Report. As regards part (c), I would refer the Deputy to the replies which I gave him on the 23rd ultimo on similar questions.
Would the Minister state on what basis applications for licences are granted in view of the lack of system in dealing with such applications evidenced by his reply to this question and to other questions?
I must deprecate the Deputy's suggestion that there is lack of system in dealing with applications of this sort. Every application is examined on its merits and where it appears that any obstruction would be placed in the way of industrial development if a licence were refused, a licence is granted.
Is there a separate licence for each commodity and is a record kept of the applications?
Yes. There is a record kept; otherwise I should not be able to give the Deputy the information I have given him in respect of the number of licences issued.
On what system are applications indexed?
If the Deputy wants information about a departmental matter of that sort, he should put down a question and I will deal with it.
The Minister is not giving any information on the point on which I wanted information and I think we must infer that this work is done in a lackadaisical way.
I hope the Deputy has not misunderstood his own questions. They consist of three parts (a), (b) and (c). I have given him the information he desires as to the number of licences issued and the quantity of goods imported under these licences. Those, I think, are the principal items in respect of which the Deputy wanted information.
The Minister gave no information under paragraph (c) and we must, therefore, assume that there is no system for providing such information.
It seems to me that the information wanted under (c) is not worth the trouble of taking out.
The reply referred to is as follows:—
|
Commodity |
No. of licences issued from 1st April to 31st October, 1932 |
Quantity of foregoing commodity imported under licences |
|
Woven tissue for hats and caps. |
127 |
45,732 s q.yards. |
|
Knitted fabric. |
62 |
57,913 s q.yards. |
|
Manufactures of iron or steel wire. |
114 |
1,267 cwts. |