asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce whether he has received further representations from fruit importers and consumers about the quality, price and terms of sale of oranges being consigned to Saorstát Eireann from Spain under the Spanish trade agreement, and whether he will cause further inquiry to be made in the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Spanish Oranges.
Since my reply to the Deputy on the 26th May, one further complaint has reached me from a registered importer regarding the quality of the oranges imported from Spain. No complaints have reached me since then as regards price and terms of sale. I am having inquiries made with a view to ascertaining whether the operation of the agreement between the Saorstat and Spanish Governments gives any reasonable ground for complaint in these matters.
Arising out of the Minister's reply, that no complaints have reached him as to terms of sale since he last answered a similar question, may I ask if his attention was directed by his staff to correspondence which appeared in the public Press to the effect that every reply given by the Minister to a similar question on the last occasion was wrong, and that in each case where he alleged that the question asking for information was wrong, the Minister himself was wrong and, in the view of the writer, was being deceived by the persons on whom he relied for information? In the light of that correspondence, will he take steps to prosecute the person who published the correspondence, or mend his hand in accordance with the information contained in the letters?
The answers to all parts of the Deputy's supplementary question are in the negative.
Does the Minister now realise that he knows very little about the administration of his own Department?
Is this a supplementary question?
Yes.
I do not propose to answer it.
Will the Minister take steps to find out what is actually happening, and remedy the gross abuses that he has allowed to grow up?