asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if it is the intention of his Department to issue any further permits for the import of fully assembled buses to Córas Iompair Éireann or any other transport company.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Imports of Buses.
Presumably the Deputy has in mind the issue of duty-free licences for the importation of fully assembled buses. No permits are necessary for importation on payment of duty.
So far as transport requirements can at present be judged, there should be no further necessity for the importation of fully assembled buses, and the question of issuing further duty-free licences in respect of such buses should not therefore arise.
These licences will be recommended in future as in the past only when transport demands are such that they cannot be met by assembly plants in the country, but before issuing licences the trade unions concerned will be consulted.
May I take it that the Minister accepts the principle that it would be wrong to import buses fully assembled when employment can be given here in the assembly of buses?
Fully; and I can assure the Deputy that it was only when it was made perfectly clear that the craftsmen here were employed fully—and, indeed, on overtime—and that there was no possibility of the company being able to meet the transport requirements except by importation, that the decision to permit importation was made.
Is the Minister aware that there has been in circulation a rumour that a permit has been given for the importation, duty free, of 50 more buses by Córas Iompair Éireann?
That is the first I heard of it.