asked the Minister for Supplies whether his Control of Prices Cycle Tyres Order is designed to apply only to tyres of Irish manufacture as the Cotton Thread Control of Prices Order applied only to thread of Irish manufacture, and whether he is aware that if the Control of Prices Cycle Tyres Order is deemed to apply to imported tyres, imports of these vital commodities must cease.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Supply of Cycle Tyres and Tubes.
Emergency Powers (Control of Prices) (No. 141) Order, 1942, covers cycle tyres both of Irish manufacture and imported. The maximum prices fixed for imported Dunlop tyres are the same as the maximum prices for Dunlop tyres of corresponding grades manufactured in this country. The maximum price fixed for imported tyres of other kinds is based on the average prices of Dunlop tyres. There is no duty payable on imported tyres, and having regard to the prices of tyres in Great Britain there is no reason why if such tyres were obtainable in the ordinary way they could not be sold below the maximum price set out in the Order. The maximum prices of imported cycle tyres had previously been fixed in Order No. 126, which was made on the 23rd March, 1942, and since then no representations have been received that such prices were unreasonable. I do not propose to make provision for prices which will cover the costs of importing tyres through irregular channels. There is no analogy between the Price Order relating to tyres and that relating to thread as the circumstances are entirely different.
Is the Minister aware that a great many people assume that the Price Order relating to tyres relates to tyres manufactured in this country and that those coming in through the same channel as that by which English thread was being brought in were not under the Price Control Order, as English thread being brought in is not under the Thread Control Order? Is it not true that the Minister has made no Order controlling the price of imported thread, but that he deliberately excluded imported thread from his Order, and if these facts are correct, will he consider suspending any pro ceedings that may have been initiated against persons who charged higher than the regulated prices for imported tyres in the belief that they were doing that which was legal?
No person who read over the Control of Prices Cycle Tyres Order, or the announcements concerning the Order that were published in the newspapers, could have any reason to believe that the Order did not apply to imported tyres. There is no similarity in the circumstances affecting tyres and thread. Imported tyres brought in through regular channels can be sold here at or below the prices fixed in the Order. The reason why imported thread is excluded from the Order fixing the prices of thread is because it can only be procured at prices substantially in excess of those which were fixed for thread manufactured in the country.
Is the Minister not aware that the only tyres coming into the country at present are, to put it bluntly, smuggled tyres, and that the only thread coming in from outside is smuggled thread? There may be two points of view as to whether we in Éire should continue to tolerate the smuggling of supplies from Northern Ireland into this country, but if we are going to tolerate smuggling, as we are doing at present, in respect of flour, bread, thread and tyres, surely those who bring in tyres should not be penalised. If we want to stop that we should tell those who are doing it that they cannot do it any longer.
The Deputy should ask questions without making a speech.
Does not the Minister realise that tyres are coming in in exactly the same way as thread is coming in, and that both, in vulgar parlance, are being smuggled? In that way, how can you ask people to sell tyres at the controlled price when, in fact, they have paid substantially more than the controlled price for those commodities?
I do not propose to fix prices for tyres which would cover the possible cost of importing them through irregular channels. To do so would be to attempt to defeat the whole object of control.
Cannot the Minister control the price of Dunlop tyres, and certain other categories of tyres, which are coming in through regular channels at market prices, and keep those tyres within certain categories as he has done in the case of thread?
The Deputy is quite misinformed on that. The thread imported from America is being imported through perfectly regular channels.
Is not the Minister aware that at the moment the 400-yard eop of English sewing thread is selling in this country at 2/- a spool, while I am selling the Westport Company's thread— the 400-yard—at 5d.? Everybody knows that it is smuggled thread. We all know that because there is no other thread. Why cannot the Minister do the same in regard to tyres that he is doing in the case of thread?
My experience in relation to thread has convinced me that I could not do the same about tyres.
asked the Minister for Supplies if he will negotiate with distributors of cycle tyres and tubes with a view to having a certain number allocated for sale to members of the following services: (a) Local Defence Force, (b) Local Security Force, (c) Air-Raid Precautions and Auxiliary Fire Services, and (d) Irish Red Cross Society.
Arrangements will be made to provide for the essential needs of the Local Defence Force and of the Local Security Force in the matter of bicycle tyres and tubes. The position of other organisations such as those mentioned by the Deputy is being examined.
asked the Minister for Supplies if he is aware that many private turf-cutters in the Dublin mountains, some of whom have to cycle ten miles to their banks, find it impossible to get bicycle tyres and tubes from cycle dealers; and whether he will arrange to have these turf-cutters supplied direct from manufacturers.
In view of the very restricted supply of bicycle tyres and tubes I regret that it is not possible to make special arrangements as suggested to meet the needs of private turf-cutters in the Dublin area.
And the Minister will not let people bring them in.
Is not the Minister aware that there are at least 1,000 men —private turf-cutters—working in the Dublin mountains at the present time who have to travel distances of from ten to 12 miles a day on bicycles? They find it impossible to get a tyre. I went up to Castlekelly myself on Saturday and interviewed a number of the men working there. I was speaking to one man who had actually cycled from Dublin on a solid back tyre. Another man had to cycle all the way on the rims of his bicycle wheels.
Is the Minister not aware that there are 22,000 turf-cutters in other parts of the country who are in the same position?
And the Minister will not allow the tyres to be brought in.
Deputy Dillon is talking nonsense.
asked the Minister for Supplies if he is aware that certain Dublin cycle dealers are not making tyres available to customers, but fitting them to practically useless cycles for which they charge the controlled price for second-hand machines; and whether he will endeavour to formulate a scheme to circumvent this practice.
I am aware that cycle tyres are available only in very restricted quantities, but I have no knowledge of cycle dealers withholding tyres from customers and selling such tyres fitted to second-hand cycles in the circumstances stated. If the Deputy can furnish any evidence of such cases I should be glad to have the matter investigated in my Department.