asked the Minister for External Affairs if, in view of the fact that the Tariffs and Trade Committee of the United Nations Preparatory Committee on Trade and Employment is officially reported to have reached agreement on the main outlines of a general agreement on tariffs and trade, and in view of the terms in which they have restated the principles of most-favoured-nation treatment, he will state whether any negotiations have taken place between the Government and the British Government on the question of imperial preferences, and whether the Irish Government have agreed to the making of any concessions in respect of such preferences.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Imperial Preferences.
While a draft general agreement on tariffs and trade has been prepared by the 17 countries represented on the Preparatory Committee, it has not yet been signed or accepted. The draft agreement contemplates the preparation of a schedule which will set out the rates of customs duty, including preference rates, on goods imported from any one of the negotiating countries into any of the others, but this schedule has not yet been completed. Ireland is not one of the negotiating countries, but, as stated by the Minister for Industry and Commerce in the Dáil on the 17th April last, we have had conversations with the British Government on some of the questions which might affect us and are under consideration. We are being kept informed by the British authorities of the progress of the work in so far as it may bear on any modification of preferences which might be contemplated. We understand that, up to the present, no final decisions have been reached on these matters.