asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will state whether the exportation of Irish wool will be prevented forthwith and if the price of the next Irish clip will be controlled so as to give a profitable price to the farmers and thus prevent the speculators from depriving our clothing factories of this necessary raw material.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Irish Wool.
In common with the Deputy I am anxious to prevent speculation from depriving clothing manufacturers of the raw material they need, but I am not satisfied that the best way of achieving that object is to prohibit completely the export of wool.
The fact is that a large proportion of the Irish wool crop has no attraction for Irish woollen mills, but I can assure the Deputy that I will take whatever steps are necessary to enable these mills to have an opportunity of purchasing at a fair price whatever kinds of Irish wool they need.
Is the Minister aware that last year the wool was purchased for 2/- a lb. and a little over, and in less than six months it was sold to manufacturers in this country at 9/10 a lb.? Is the Minister further aware that 100 per cent. wool is used in tweed suitings, blanket weaving and hosiery woollen goods, 70 per cent. in carpet weaving, and 25 per cent. in worsted suiting? Unless the wool is prevented from being exported our manufacturing concerns will be deprived of it before we know where we are.
With regard to the first portion of the Deputy's supplementary relative to the jump in wool prices in the course of the last year, the Department of Industry and Commerce would have required to be in the confidence of some gentlemen in Tokio or Peking to know that the price of wool was going to bounce the way it did. With regard to the second part of the Deputy's supplementary, I think that has been met in full or as fully as could be by the reply I have given here. The native mills will get a fair opportunity to get whatever they require. What they do not require it is reasonable to allow to be sold to people who want it.
Is the Minister aware of any one case which has been reported to his Department where a blanket manufacturer in this country purchased Irish wool last year at a low price and instead of using it for manufacturing purposes exported it at a considerable profit?
At the moment, I am not aware of it. If I get that particular information, I will have it looked into.
Arising out of the Minister's reply to Deputy Hickey, may we take it that there will be a free market for farmers in respect of wool in the coming year?
You cannot take that immediately from the reply I gave the Deputy. The reply I gave to the Deputy was that the home trade would get a reasonable opportunity to buy what they require and that, after that, producers of wool would get facilities to sell their crop.
From the farmers' point of view, is there to be a free market or is the Minister going to take action to fix prices?
That supplementary is not related to the original. If the Deputy puts down that question, he will get a reply.