asked the Minister for Finance if he is aware of the practice whereby travellers to this country, from American ports, are encouraged to change their dollar holdings into sterling before departure; if he will state whether he has intervened, in any way, to secure that such travellers may bring all available dollars to this country; whether dollars, which come into this country in the possession of travellers are, after changing, passed over to the British Treasury; and if so, if he will state how it is proposed to establish, for this country, dollar credits in America and other countries outside the sterling area.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Dollar Credits.
As regards the first part of the question. I am aware that during last summer and autumn many travellers to this country from the United States endeavoured to import sterling notes which had been offered for sale to them, before leaving, by travel agencies, but I am not aware of the extent (if any) to which such travellers were encouraged, in the sense intended by the Deputy, to purchase these notes for importation into this country. As regards the second part of the question, the Deputy is no doubt aware that the Emergency Powers (Finance) (No. 6) Order, 1940, as amended by Emergency Powers (Finance) (No. 5) Order, 1940, (Amendment) Order, 1946, is designed to secure that travellers from the U.S.A. and other countries abroad may not import into this country any sum in United Kingdom bank notes in excess of £20, and these provisions naturally serve to increase the amount of dollars brought into this country by such travellers. Moreover, when I became aware of the circumstances referred to in the first part of the reply, I arranged that the Irish Consular Offices in the U.S.A. should agencies in that country the nature of the restrictions imposed by Irish law on the importation of currency notes, and also that all applicants for visés to enter this country should be similarly informed of these prohibitions.
The answer to the third part of the question is that all dollars changed by travellers in this country are purchased for the foreign exchange account set up under Section 49 of the Finance Act, 1941. The fourth part of the question does not, therefore, arise.