asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will state whether persons not on the register of licensed importers relating to any particular quotaed commodity will be permitted to import supplies of that commodity, when supplies of Irish manufacture are not available.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Importation of Supplies.
Quotas have been suspended in cases where I have been satisfied that the circumstances justified that course. The position in respect of remaining quota orders is under examination. During the period of suspension of a quota, there is no restriction in regard to the persons who may import the commodity concerned. Where circumstances exist which make it undesirable to suspend quota restrictions, I am always prepared, in suitable cases, by the establishment of generous quotas, or in other ways, to facilitate reasonable imports, including the making of such arrangements as will permit a person not on the register of licensed importers to import supplies of a particular commodity.
Would the Minister state how a person who is not on the register of licensed importers gets a quota licence to import quotaed goods? If a person wants to import goods that he cannot get from an Irish factory and he is not on the register of licensed importers, how can he get a licence?
A licence to import can be got under Section 14 of the Control of Imports Act, 1937.
If a person wishes to import a parcel of boots of a type not obtainable in this country at present, will the Minister give that person a licence to import them?
I can give no such undertaking without examining the circumstances of each particular case. I think it is desirable that we should, as far as possible, retain trade in its normal channels. There are, of course, people who are willing to engage in a particular trade on occasions for the purpose of making a profit for themselves and whose activities can upset and even destroy the prospect of more regular imports by normal importers. In such circumstances, I would not undertake to give a licence to the individual concerned, but the Deputy may be assured that there is no Act or Order operating at the present time to make it impossible for people to import supplies that are, in general, difficult to obtain here.
Are we to understand that the normal channels of trade are to be regarded as those channels into which the quota policy has now forced trade?
I do not quite understand what the Deputy means. By normal channels of trade I mean persons and firms who were normally engaged in the trade prior to the war.
Is the Minister aware that thousands of boot factors and retail merchants who used to import boots to this country have been prevented from doing so by the quota regulations? If these people are in a position to renew their trade relations with their old suppliers, will they be permitted to bring in boots which they are unable to get from any Irish sources of supply?
As I told the Deputy, I am not prepared to give a general undertaking in advance of an examination of the circumstances of each particular case.
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will state whether any licences to import cotton half-hose free of customs duty have been recommended by him for issue by the Revenue Commissioners, and whether any applications for such licences have been refused his recommendation since October 1st, 1941.
The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. The records kept in my Department in regard to applications for these licences do not permit of an answer to the second part of the question without examination of papers involving an expenditure of time and labour, which would not be justified by the result. If the Deputy desires information in respect of a particular case or cases, I shall, as I indicated in reply to his question on the 18th ultimo, have the matter examined if he will supply me with particulars. In accordance with a general direction given by me, all applications for duty-free licences for cotton half-hose received since November 20th, 1941, have been recommended.
Is the Minister aware that several persons engaged in the distribution of half-hose in the City of Dublin applied for a licence to import cotton half-hose free of duty, and were refused, and that one gentleman in Cork applied for and got a licence to import 200,000 dozen of half-hose, brought them in and offered them for sale to the merchants whom the Minister had refused a permit to import themselves? Does the Minister think that that is an equitable administration of his discretion to recommend the granting of such licences?
The only answer is that this never happened. The Deputy appears to have an extraordinary reluctance to give the information which would enable the facts to be checked.
I have no reluctance to give them.
The Deputy was asked to give them and he did not.
The gentlemen who got the licence from you are not likely to confide in me. I have given the Minister certain facts and if the Minister is willing to investigate the matter, he can get further details from his protégés because they will not give them to me.
The Deputy has stated that certain people applied for licences and were refused. Who were they?
The Minister has all the facts in his own office and it is his job to look for them if he intends to administer his Department impartially.