Recently I asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if the duty which he had imposed on peppers and spices had a protective purpose, and he said it had. I asked him, therefore, why he had issued licences for the importation of these commodities, free of duty, while there were abundant sources of supply of ground peppers and spices in Saorstát Eireann. He said he had only issued licences in the early stage for a short period. The Minister as reported in column 1302, volume 63 (4) of the Official Reports stated:—
"For a short period after the imposition of the duty recommendations for licences for the importation of ground spices, free of duty, were made for strictly limited quantities, in order to facilitate importers during the transition period."
I now desire to submit to the House that the facts of the case are these: that licences were issued by the Department of Industry and Commerce to users of ground spices and peppers for the purpose of facilitating these parties in continuing to deal with foreign firms until such time as there was established in this country a new firm in the pepper and spices grinding business to replace a firm which was already in existence here. I charge the Department of Industry and Commerce with having issued licences to the customers of an existing firm, which is manufacturing ground spices and peppers, to import these commodities free of duty, and that these licences were issued long after the Department of Industry and Commerce had been fixed with notice that there was a firm operating in this country capable of supplying the country's requirements in these ground spices and peppers.
I ask the House to note that the firm in question was established here years before there was any suggestion that a tariff should be put on. It was established here in the face of open competition and was doing pretty well. The House might be interested to know that the proprietor of this firm has been a faithful supporter of the Fianna Fáil Party. When the Minister for Industry and Commerce was speaking on the Finance Bill here, explaining the tariffs, he said that this tariff on ground spices and peppers was designed to establish a new industry, to wit, the grinding of these spices and peppers. That statement was made on the 21st May. The proprietor of the firm, which was already established here, wrote to the Minister on the 26th May and drew attention to the fact that on page 280 of the Official Trade Directory of the Department of Industry and Commerce the name of his firm was shown as a firm which was then grinding spices and peppers, and he asked the Minister to correct the impression which the Minister had created in the public mind by what he stated in the Dáil on 21st May, when he said the object of the duty was to create a new industry. Subsequently the Minister for Industry did state in this House that he had created a false impression.
But I now allege that ten days after May 26th, when the Minister received the letter directing his attention to the fact that there was a firm grinding spices and peppers in this country, the Minister wrote to another firm and then informed them, as late as the first week in June, that there was no one grinding spices and peppers in this country, but that he hoped there would soon be somebody. The Minister then apparently adverted to the fact that there was a firm here and stated in the Dáil that he had been mistaken, that there was a firm grinding spices and peppers here in the past and that they were still grinding them. The proprietor of this firm made repeated representations to the Minister that there was no justification whatever for issuing licences to his customers to import spices and peppers free of duty as he was able to supply the demand. He pointed out that he never asked for a duty, that he was quite prepared to carry on in existing circumstances as he had been carrying on in the past, but that if a duty was put on he strenuously objected to that duty being used for the purpose of driving him out of business in order to let somebody else set up in his place to carry on the trade that he had made a success of without any duty. He calls in evidence the fact that, after the Minister had been repeatedly notified that he was prepared to fill any orders that came from anybody for ground spices and peppers, as late as 20th of June the Minister was still issuing licences to his customers to import from Great Britain spices and peppers.
I now ask the House to note that the Minister stated here that he had been approached by a group of persons to put on this duty and that this group of persons said they wanted the duty on in order to establish themselves in the business of spices and pepper grinding. The Minister admitted in the course of the debate that when the duty was put on there would not be room for any more than one firm in the spices and pepper grinding business. Therefore, we are forced to the conclusion that the Minister's intention was to put on a duty for the purpose of setting up a new firm in the business and, seeing that there was only room for one firm in the business when all the business was being done here, the assumption must be that the new firm was to be the only firm and that the old firm was to be put out of business.
This unfortunate man, who built up this business, has had a similar experience in the past, because he was engaged in another business, the manufacture of rusk meal, which is part of the raw material of the sausage-making business. After he had built up a little business in that, the Government put a tariff on and brought in a British firm to wipe him out of existence, to put him out of business. Being a stalwart supporter of the Fianna Fáil Party, he said: "After all, you cannot have omelettes without breaking eggs," and he supposed he was one of the casualties in the general campaign for industrial revival. He threw off his coat and built up another business in spices and pepper grinding and he had not got under way in that fully until he is fixed with notice that the Government are going to put him out of business.
There must be limits to the injustice that may be perpetrated against individuals. This man's business admittedly is a small one. Admittedly, it is not fit to do much more than maintain him and his family. But he built it up himself; he asked for no help or tariff; he asked for no protection of any kind. He has already been put out of one business and his years of work and little capital dissipated by a tariff that brought in a big British combine to manufacture rusk meal in this country. He has now built up another little business. I want to ask the Minister by what criterion of justice he can defend smashing him again. Therefore I ask the Minister to give the man an unqualified undertaking, (1) that no further licences will be issued; if he is going to put on a tariff at all, let it operate in the ordinary way, and that is, that no licences will be issued when Saorstát sources of supply are available; (2) that the Government will provide no facilities for any firm to come in here from Great Britain and smash the little business that an Irish national has built up for himself without protection or assistance of any kind.
I believe in free competition and a fair field for everyone, but I strenuously object to our Government facilitating outsiders coming in to smash individual citizens of this State who have set up their own little business without asking help from anybody. I have no objection to the Government assisting in the development of Irish industry or in helping on in any way they can a deserving industry that may be of some use to the community as a whole, but I most vehemently object to the enterprise of individual citizens being shattered and wasted as a result of the imprudence and folly of any Minister of State. I think the Minister should have no difficulty in giving me the undertakings I ask for, and if he does the matter can be disposed of. I do not want the House to think that this matter has been raised here by a man who was desirous of embarrassing the Government. He was not. He is a strong supporter of the Government, and he went, not once but five times, to the Minister for Industry and Commerce to remonstrate with him in private in his office. He wrote to him on the 26th May and went to see him about the 5th June. He wrote personally to the Minister on the 12th June to say that he could not believe that the Minister could have personal knowledge of what was happening and that if he had he would not stand for it. In answer to that letter he got a formal acknowledgment on the 15th June. He wrote again on the 23rd June to the Minister and to the Secretary of the Department as well. He approached the Minister himself privately and confidentially at least five or six times. He had no desire to bring the business into public, and eventually he only called on members of this House to ventilate his case when he seriously made up his mind that the only alternative to calling on the public to protect him was to be wiped out of business.
As I have said, this is a man who has built up one little business and has had it destroyed already. He has now built up another little business, and the fact is that if this business is smashed he has not got either the youth or the capital on his side to face the task of building up a third enterprise. If he is smashed now he is smashed for good, and I confidently ask the House to insist that this man will be given a fair chance to carry on. He asks for no protection, he asks for no Government interference of any kind, but he does say this: that when a tariff has been imposed that tariff must not be used to induce his customers to give up dealing with him until such time as another firm can come from Great Britain to set up here and take away from him the sole means of livelihood that he and his family have got.
