asked the Minister for Supplies if he will state whether any negotiations have taken place for the purpose of obtaining our import requirements of tea for the year 1941, and, if so, if he will state the bodies conducting these negotiations, and whether any conclusions have been come to as to the quantity likely to be imported.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Importation of Tea.
Discussions with the object of securing the maintenance of the tea supply for this country have since the outbreak of the war taken place at frequent intervals between my Department and the British Ministry of Food. Discussions concerning future imports are in progress, but it is not possible at this stage to say what conclusions will be reached.
Can the Minister give an undertaking in that regard that no proposal will be entertained for concentrating supplies of tea in future in the hands of a group of Dublin wholesalers without first consulting the wholesale merchants of tea throughout the country as a whole?
I do not like binding myself by undertakings in relation to a situation which cannot be entirely visualised. I think any such arrangement would not be practicable. In fact, part of our difficulties in regulating the distribution of tea here is due to the fact that a number of our retailers dealt directly with wholesalers in Great Britain, and that the allocation of tea for this country is made to these wholesalers who are outside our control.
I apprehend that the suggestion may be made to the Minister that it would be expedient to hand over the wholesale distribution of tea in this country to a group of Dublin wholesalers. What I am solicitous to ensure is that before the Minister accepted any such proposal he would take energetic measures to secure the opinion of wholesale distributors in Cork, Waterford, and other provincial centres as to the desirability of such a plan.
A number of these wholesalers have already submitted their opinions.
The Minister will fully consider their views before determining any matter of this kind?
In view of the fact that it would appear that there has been no difficulty in getting supplies of tea up to the present, will the Minister, before developing any particular kind of machinery to control tea imports into this country, ensure that he will not by doing so block the flow of tea into the country?
As was announced in the Press, we have been officially informed that future allocations of tea to this country for the time being will be reduced in quantity.
Is the Minister aware that during the past year, although the official supplies of tea were rationed on the basis of a datum here, there were offered and accepted about 3,000,000 lbs. of what was called free tea outside the allocation?
I do not think it is correct to say that that happened last year. It happened shortly after the outbreak of the war in 1939.
I bought free tea last year. It may be that more of that free tea will appear on the market, and, if we excessively restrict the imports of tea here to conform with some plan of ours, we might deprive tea merchants here of an opportunity of securing a share of that free tea should such supplies be forthcoming.
I think it is highly improbable.
Could the Minister say by what fraction it is suggested the quantity of tea imported into this country is likely to be reduced?
That is one of the matters under discussion at the moment.