Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 10 May 1939

Vol. 75 No. 16

Financial Resolutions. - Resolution No. 6—Customs and Excise.

Mr. MacEntee

I move:—

(1) That the duty of customs imposed by Section 1 of the Finance (Customs Duties) (No. 4) Act, 1931 (No. 43 of 1931), as amended by subsequent enactments, shall, in respect of mineral hydrocarbon light oil chargeable with that duty which is imported on or after the 11th day of May, 1939, be charged, levied, and paid at the rate of 10d. per gallon in lieu of the rate mentioned in the said Section 1.

(2) That the duty of excise imposed by Section 1 of the Finance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1935 (No. 7 of 1935), as amended by subsequent enactments, shall, in respect of mineral hydrocarbon light oil chargeable with that duty which is sent out, on or for sale or otherwise, from the premises of the manufacturer thereof on or after the 11th day of May, 1939, or is used by such manufacturer on or after that date for any purpose other than the manufacture or production of mineral hydrocarbon oil, be charged, levied, and paid at the rate of 8d. the gallon in lieu of the rate mentioned in the said Section 1.

(3) It is hereby declared that it is expedient in the public interest that this Resolution shall have statutory effect under the provisions of the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act, 1927 (No. 7 of 1927).

This Resolution puts a duty of 2d. a gallon, customs and excise, on mineral hydrocarbon light oil.

Mr. Dillon

Does that include paraffin oil for a lamp?

Mr. MacEntee

No. There is another Resolution coming along which will include heavy oils.

General Mulcahy

The Minister, in the course of his statement to-day, implied that he understood that this increase was going to injure business in a queer kind of way and that it might have a kind of restricting effect on these people who are simply joy-riding around the place. It is all very well to speak in a general kind of way, but has the Minister considered, in connection with this tax, a detailed question like this: How much is this going to add to the bill that is going to be paid by the ordinary citizens of Dublin who travel in buses and have not cars? The price for ordinary transport in the City of Dublin is high enough at the moment. It would be interesting to know how much the increase that is proposed in Resolution No. 6 is going to add to the bill that will have to be footed by these people.

Mr. Dillon

I would like the Minister to dwell on this. This Resolution is going to result in a tax of 1/8 a day on the average bread-van going through the country. That means 10/- a week. Now, that 10/- a week could very well have been given as additional wages to the driver of the van. It is an interesting reflection, who is going to pay it? The average person selling bread in rural Ireland, as the Minister for Industry and Commerce knows, is experiencing ferocious competition, a very good thing, which has resulted in the price of bread being brought down to the very lowest farthing that the baker can produce and distribute it for. They are now going to put 10/- a week on in respect of his travelling vans. Who is going to pay it? He cannot, because he is not getting enough out of bread to enable him to pay it.

Mr. MacEntee

These are all very interesting reflections, but if Deputy Dillon would only reflect, when he is demanding heavily-increased expenditure, that somebody will have to pay for what he is asking, perhaps we could not have these reflections to-day.

Mr. Dillon

Deputy Dillon is prone to forget that this country was ever capable of producing such hopeless incompetents as disfigure the Government Bench at the present time, and he had hoped that the 700 years' struggle for freedom would not adorn the Government of this country with the deplorable fiascoes that we have at the present time as Ministers of State. So, from time to time, he points out to the Government how the resources of the nation might be mobilised to the best advantage of our people, never despairing that some day sense would penetrate the darkness where some light has found its way in the last six years and where there was no vestige of illumination at all six years ago when the present Government clambered into office.

Mr. MacEntee

If Deputy Dillon has even a semblance of Christian humility, he might sometimes reflect whether freedom was worth Deputy Dillon.

General Mulcahy

I do not think it is fair for the Minister to tempt us into starting a general discussion on this Resolution.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

I hope not.

General Mulcahy

It might easily be done if you, Sir, were any way soft, and it would be the Minister for Finance who would be responsible for it. The Minister, apparently, is not prepared to answer the type of question I put him first about the effect of this tax on transport in the City of Dublin. I would like to put him the question in the form in which Deputy Dillon put his. Who, in the City of Dublin, is going to pay the increased cost?

Mr. Lemass

The users.

General Mulcahy

The Minister for Industry and Commerce understands that the users of the bus services are going to pay this increased cost.

Question put.

The Committee divided: Tá, 64; Níl, 35.

Tá

• Aiken, Frank.
• Allen, Denis.
• Bartley, Gerald.
• Beegan, Patrick.
• Boland, Gerald.
• Bourke, Dan.
• Brady, Brian.
• Brady, Seán.
• Breathnach, Cormac.
• Breslin, Cormac.
• Briscoe, Robert.
• Carty, Frank.
• Childers, Erskine H.
• Corish, Richard.
• Corry, Martin J.
• Crowley, Fred Hugh.
• Crowley, Tadgh.
• Derrig, Thomas.
• De Valera, Eamon.
• Everett, James.
• Flynn, John.
• Flynn, Stephen.
• Fogarty, Andrew.
• Friel, John.
• Fuller, Stephen.
• Gorry, Patrick J.
• Harris, Thomas.
• Hickey, James.
• Hogan, Daniel.
• Humphreys, Francis.
• Hurley, Jeremiah.
• Kelly, James P.
• Kelly, Thomas.
• Keyes, Michael.
• Kissane, Eamon.
• Lemass, Seán F.
• Little, Patrick J.
• Loughman, Francis.
• Lynch, James B.
• McDevitt, Henry A.
• MacEntee, Seán.
• Maguire, Ben.
• Meaney, Cornelius.
• Moran, Michael.
• Morrissey, Michael.
• Mullen, Thomas.
• Munnelly, John.
• Murphy, Timothy J.
• O Briain, Donnchadh.
• O'Grady, Seán.
• O'Loghlen, Peter J.
• O'Reilly, Matthew.
• O'Rourke, Daniel.
• O'Sullivan, Ted.
• Pattison, James P.
• Ryan, James.
• Ryan, Robert.
• Sheridan, Michael.
• Smith, Patrick.
• Traynor, Oscar.
• Victory, James.
• Walsh, Laurence J.
• Walsh, Richard.
• Ward, Conn.

Níl

• Bennett, George C.
• Benson, Ernest E.
• Brasier, Brooke.
• Brennan, Michael.
• Broderick, William J.
• Browne, Patrick.
• Burke, Patrick.
• Coburn, James.
• Cogan, Patrick.
• Cosgrave, William T.
• Costello, John A.
• Daly, Patrick.
• Dillon, James M.
• Dockrell, Henry M.
• Doyle, Peadar S.
• Esmonde, John L.
• Giles, Patrick.
• Gorey, Denis J.
• Hannigan, Joseph.
• Hughes, James.
• Keating, John.
• Linehan, Timothy.
• McFadden, Michael Og.
• McGovern, Patrick.
• McMenamin, Daniel.
• Mongan, Joseph W.
• Morrissey, Daniel.
• Mulcahy, Richard.
• Nally, Martin.
• O'Donovan, Timothy J.
• O'Higgins, Thomas F.
• O'Neill, Eamonn.
• O'Sullivan, John M.
• Rogers, Patrick J.
• Ryan, Jeremiah.

Tellers:—Tá: Deputies Little and Smith; Níl: Deputies Doyle and Bennett.

Question declared carried.