Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 6 Jul 1939

Vol. 76 No. 16

Committee on Finance. - Control of Imports (Quota No. 34) (Amendment) Order, 1939—Motion.

Minister for Industry and Commerce (Mr. Lemass)

I move:—

That Dáil Eireann hereby approves of Control of Imports (Quota No. 34) (Amendment) Order, 1939.

Quota No. 34 Order related to electric filament lamps. One of the provisions of the Order was designed to exclude from the prohibition affected by the Order lamps constructed and intended to be energised from a dry battery. The Revenue Commissioners found, however, that that particular provision enabled some importers to evade the general purpose of the Order. Futhermore, they reported that they found that, in practice, it was impossible to distinguish between lamps intended to be energised from a dry battery and lamps which would be supplied from a dynamo. The purpose of the Amendment Order, therefore, is to remove the exemption granted by the original Order and thus prevent that method of evasion of the purpose of the Order.

Mr. Dillon

Who is going to get the licence to import?

Mr. Lemass

The lamps are being manufactured here.

Mr. Dillon

Are there going to be any licences issued for importation?

Mr. Lemass

Except in accordance with the quota.

Mr. Dillon

Who is going to get the licences under the quota?

Mr. Lemass

Firms whose names are on the register of importers.

Mr. Dillon

Precisely. So that, in this case, we are going to get a small group of gentlemen——

Mr. Lemass

No, anybody is entitled to be registered.

Mr. Dillon

Anybody is entitled to be registered now?

Mr. Lemass

In accordance with the Act.

Mr. Dillon

Anybody who applies to the Minister will be given a licence to import. That being so, when it comes to fixing the terms of the quota, will reference be had then to the imports of the individual concerned during the last one or two years, in order to determine what proportion of the quota he is going to be given under his licence?

Mr. Lemass

I am required to do so by the Act.

Mr. Dillon

If that is so, what actually happens is this: that three or four warriors get control of the entire supply, the price shoots up, and they reap a golden harvest. I admit freely that the individual who pays 50 per cent. for a flashlight bulb is not going to be crushed by that burden of expense, but I cannot see why the legislative powers of this House should be used in order to line the pockets of the fly-by-nights who come in here and set themselves up as pedlars of these various commodities. That is what happened in connection with quota order after quota order. The legitimate traders cannot get their supplies, and these fly-by-nights and small pedlars grab the whole control of a certain commodity and hold the legitimate trader to ransom. The Minister's reply to that is: "Well, let the legitimate trader refer the matter to the Prices Commission." Now, nobody is going to go to the expense, worry and annoyance of referring such a matter to the Prices Commission when the total amount involved is perhaps ¾d. or 1d. on each flashlight bulb concerned, but the whole thing means that our community contributes to four or five pedlars a very substantial annual income under these infernal quota orders. The Minister has admitted in the Trade Agreement made with Britain that the quota system has to go. Nevertheless these idiotic orders are rehabilitating the evils that flow from the quota system. These evils are not unique to this country. In every country in the world in which the quota system has been introduced, that system has been exploited by the most unserupulous elements in the community. This instance of the bulbs is not going to make any great difference but it is well to avail of this occasion to warn the Minister that this quota scandal has got to stop, that if it continues steps will be taken to collect the names of the exploiters of these quota orders who are sheltering behind the Minister to rob consumers in these countries and that they will be exposed.

Mr. Lemass

I never heard so much "cod" talked in five minutes as the Deputy has just uttered.

Mr. Cosgrave

Has the Minister never attended a meeting of a Fianna Fáil Club?

Mr. Lemass

If the Deputy had attended some of these meetings, he might be better instructed on national affairs. He would have a little more wisdom.

Mr. Cosgrave

I never heard any from them.

Mr. Lemass

Hence the Deputy's ignorance. We have all this talk about exposing people but the fact is that everybody who pays 1/- can see the register of importers. If the Deputy cares to invest 1/- for that purpose, he can get all the information he requires. The law provides that he must get that information. I cannot possibly withhold it from him. The procedure under which the register is formed is laid down by law. The law provides that those who are ordinarily engaged in the business of importing particular commodities must get preference in the allocation of licences. Therefore, established traders are by statute protected against those other people against whom the Deputy has fulminated.

Question put and agreed to.