In Committee on Finance. - Industrial Alcohol Bill, 1934—Committee and Final Stages.
Section 1 agreed to.
SECTION 2.
In this Act—
The expression "the Minister" means the Minister for Industry and Commerce.
I move amendment No. 1:—
To insert at the end of the section the following:—
the expression "industrial alcohol" means alcohol which is of a strength not less than 55 degrees over proof, whether denatured or not.
It is for the purpose of inserting in the Bill a definition of industrial alcohol as alcohol of a strength not less than 55 degrees over proof. It is purely a drafting provision.
Amendment agreed to.
Section 2, as amended, agreed to.
Sections 3 to 12, inclusive, agreed to.
SECTION 13.
(4) A sale order shall be served on any person in one or other of the following ways, that is to say:—
(a) by delivering to such person a copy of such order certified to be a true copy under the Official Seal of the Minister;
(b) by sending by post in a prepaid registered letter addressed to such person at the address at which he carries on business a copy of such order certified to be a true copy under the Official Seal of the Minister.
For the purposes of this sub-section, a company registered in Saorstát Eireann under the Companies Acts, 1908 to 1924, shall be deemed to carry on business at its registered office, and every other body corporate and every unincorporated body shall be deemed to carry on business at its principal office or place of business.
I move amendment No. 2:—
At the end of sub-section (4), after the words "place of business" to add the words "in Saorstát Eireann."
It is a drafting amendment.
Amendment agreed to.
Section 13, as amended, agreed to.
SECTION 14.
(1) It shall not be lawful for any person other than the Minister to manufacture industrial alcohol of a kind for the time being manufactured by the Minister under this Act unless such industrial alcohol is manufactured under and in accordance with a licence granted by the Minister.
(2) The Minister may, if he so thinks fit, grant to any person a licence to manufacture industrial alcohol of a kind for the time being manufactured by the Minister under this Act and may attach to such licence such conditions (including conditions as to revocation) as he thinks fit.
I move amendments Nos. 3 and 4:—
In sub-section (1), to delete the words "of a kind for the time being manufactured by the Minister under this Act."
In sub-section (2), to delete the words "of a kind for the time being manufactured by the Minister under this Act," and substitute the words "either generally or of a particular kind, quality, or strength."
These amendments are consequential on amendment No. 1.
Amendment agreed to.
Section 14, as amended, and Section 15, agreed to.
I am not moving Section 16.
It is a section that provides for the exemption from stamp duty of documents and conveyances under the Bill, and it is not necessary as there are regular avenues for such procedure in existence.
Sections 17, 18 and 19 agreed to.
Title agreed to.
Question—"That the Bill be received for final consideration"—put and agreed to.
Question proposed: "That the Bill do now pass."
The House must be aware that this Bill has not received the consideration it ought to have received; and it ought to be put on the records of the House that it is leaving the House unexamined in a parliamentary sense. We may feel grateful that we have the Seanad to do the work which this House ought to have done if the proper procedure was adopted by the Government. Legislation of this kind ought to have been introduced in time, and opportunity ought to have been given to the House to give it consideration under conditions which the House ought to enjoy when dealing with matters of this kind. We are asked to appropriate, and have appropriated, enormous sums of money for the production of industrial alcohol from potatoes which, in the opinion of the best experts, will cost 3/- a gallon, and will have to be used in competition with a product that is purchasable in the world markets at 4d. per gallon delivered at the port of Dublin. For that purpose large sums of money are being provided and elaborate machinery is being set up under this Bill. All I can say is that the Industrial Alcohol Bill should form a suitable epitaph for the Fianna Fáil Party.
The procedure of the Government in relation to this Bill has been quite correct. It is not by my wish that the Bill has not got more elaborate consideration, although I appreciate as much as any Deputy the fact that that enables an early adjournment of the Dáil to take place. The proposals in the Bill were debated on two occasions. One of these was the introduction of a Supplementary Estimate last February, and the matter was again debated in the month of May. The Bill merely gives effect to the decision recorded by the Dáil on both those occasions.
Question put.
The Dáil divided:—Tá, 49; Níl, 31.
Tá
- Bartley, Gerald.
- Beegan, Patrick.
- Blaney, Neal.
- Boland, Gerald.
- Bourke, Daniel.
- Brady, Brian.
- Browne, William Frazer.
- Concannon, Helena.
- Crowley, Fred. Hugh.
- Crowley, Timothy.
- Daly, Denis.
- Derrig, Thomas.
- De Valera, Eamon.
- Donnelly, Eamon.
- Flynn, Stephen.
- Fogarty, Andrew.
- Geoghegan, James.
- Gibbons, Seán.
- Hales, Thomas.
- Harris, Thomas.
- Hayes, Seán.
- Hogan, Patrick (Clare).
- Houlihan, Patrick.
- Keely, Séamus P.
- Kehoe, Patrick.
- Kelly, James Patrick.
- Kelly, Thomas.
- Keyes, Michael.
- Killilea, Mark.
- Kilroy, Michael.
- Lemass, Seán F.
- Little, Patrick John.
- Lynch, James B.
- MacEntee, Seán.
- Maguire, Ben.
- Moore, Séamus.
- Murphy, Patrick Stephen.
- O Ceallaigh, Seán T.
- O'Doherty, Joseph.
- O'Grady, Seán.
- O'Reilly, Matthew.
- Pearse, Margaret Mary.
- Rice, Edward.
- Ruttledge, Patrick Joseph.
- Ryan, James.
- Ryan, Martin.
- Ryan, Robert.
- Sheridan, Michael.
- Smith, Patrick.
Níl
- Beckett, James Walter.
- Belton, Patrick.
- Bennett, George Cecil.
- Broderick, William Joseph.
- Burke, James Michael.
- Coburn, James.
- Cosgrave, William T.
- Costello, John Aloysius.
- Curran, Richard.
- Desmond, William.
- Dillon, James M.
- Doyle, Peadar S.
- Fagan, Charles.
- Finlay, John.
- Fitzgerald-Kenney, James.
- Haslett, Alexander.
- Keating, John.
- McFadden, Michael Og.
- McGovern, Patrick.
- Morrisroe, James.
- Morrissey, Daniel.
- Mulcahy, Richard.
- Nally, Martin.
- O'Higgins, Thomas Francis.
- O'Leary, Daniel.
- O'Mahony, The.
- O'Neill, Eamonn.
- Redmond, Bridget Mary.
- Rice, Edward.
- Rogers, Patrick James.
- Rowlette, Robert James.
Tellers:—Tá: Deputies Little and Smith; Níl: Deputies Doyle and Bennett.
Motion declared carried.
The Dáil adjourned at 10.30 p.m. until Friday, 10th August, at 10.30 a.m.
