asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce whether it is intended that one of the proposed cement manufacturing industries will be located at Drinagh, County Wexford, in view of the fact that up to some years ago a cement factory (which was eventually closed down by an English Cement Co., that acquired it) operating there gave extensive employment in the district—at one time employing up to 70 men; that this district is ideally situated on a railway line with a siding into the works; that skilled labour is available in the district; that the ready-made plant is still there, and that there is an abundance of first quality lime-stone, the raw material of the industry, at the site.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Cement Industry.
The question of the location of the cement factories which may be established under the provisions of the Cement Act, 1933, is a matter for decision by the persons to whom licences to manufacture cement will eventually be issued. As licences have not yet been issued under the Act, it is impossible to state at this stage in what locality cement factories will be established.
Has the Minister recently received representations from the Wexford Development Association in connection with this matter, and, if so, has he sent them a reply?
A reply has been sent on the lines of the reply I have just read to Deputy Keating's question.
Is the House to understand that the Minister will issue licences to individuals to manufacture cement without first having considered the locations in which those factories are to be established? Will he issue licences to individuals and let them select the place of manufacture without first having investigated the local conditions and deciding whether they are best suited for this monopoly that the State proposes to give those individuals?
The Deputy may understand nothing of the kind.
But that is the obvious meaning of the Minister's reply.
It would be obvious only to the Deputy.
It is the obvious meaning and it indicates just about as much as the Minister knows of the matter.