asked the Minister for Finance whether currency facilities are available to any Irish citizen able and anxious to import any category of Czecho-Slovakian products.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Currency Facilities.
Applications for currency facilities are considered individually, and it is not possible to give categorical replies to general questions such as that asked by the Deputy. I am not, however, aware that any obstacle on currency grounds has been placed in the way of any Irish trader who wishes to import from Czecho-Slovakia goods required for consumption or use in Ireland, provided that the quantities involved are not excessive and that the goods in question do not belong to a class in respect of which imports from all countries abroad are being restricted in present circumstances.
May we assume from the way the Minister has replied that the same facilities will be afforded by him to any Irish citizen who seeks to import merchandise from Czecho-Slovakia as have in the past been afforded to the Czecho-Slovak and Irish Trading Company, Limited, who has had certain facilities from him?
The question will be governed by the policy as laid down.
I hope it will not be governed by the fact that a Fianna Fáil Minister is a director of the Czecho-Slovak and Irish Trading Company, Limited. A Fianna Fáil Senator, I should say, not a Minister. He could not be a Minister.