asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is aware of the very serious position of Irish Tanners, Limited, Portlaw, where some 250 employees, who have been employed on only three days per week since June, 1954, are now faced with a complete cessation of production necessitating their total disemployment; and that this position has been very largely created by the importation of synthetic substitute soling materials which has seriously affected the output of heavy sole leather in which Irish Tanners, Limited, Portlaw, specialises; and, if so, if he will take such steps as will enable this company to continue in production and thus secure to the inhabitants of Portlaw and surrounding districts their only means of livelihood.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Irish Tanners, Limited.
I am aware of the position referred to by the Deputy and its effects on the employment position in the tannery mentioned in the question is a matter of grave concern to me.
In recent years there has been a serious decline in the demand for heavy sole leather on both the home and export markets. The increased use of synthetic soling materials has contributed to this decline but there have also been other causes, notably the use of natural rubber as a soling material and the considerable increase in the use of rubber footwear. This trend is world wide and I understand that tanneries in other countries have had to face similar difficulties.
I am at present considering whether there are any steps which I can take to help in this very difficult situation but I fear that any action which it may be open to me to take would, at best, do no more than offer partial and perhaps temporary relief.
Would the Minister state why, in view of the fact that the biggest factory of its kind in the country is about to close down due to lack of orders and over-production, he is now establishing a somewhat similar factory in another southern town?
The position is that this factory has been in difficulties since April of last year when, as the Deputy knows, its workers were put on half-time. There are a lot of factors impacting on this particular tannery and I do not think we will help the object I want to serve, and which I hope the Deputy also wants to serve, by discussing its affairs here. This factory previously had a substantial export trade; it now has virtually no export trade. The use of rubber and synthetic soling materials has increased from about 14 per cent. in 1942 to 37 per cent. in 1954. The same trend has manifested itself in many other countries. In addition to that, this company at one stage had a considerable market for its goods. At that time, however, two other important tanneries were not in production to the same extent as they are to-day.
These are only some of the difficulties which one encounters in dealing with this problem and, in attempting a solution of it, one must try to balance employment in the tannery with employment in the boot factories which engage in the production of boots and shoes with synthetic soling materials. I can assure the Deputy that this matter is having my most earnest attention and anything I can do to provide a solution for this difficult problem I shall be only too glad to do.
Does the Minister realise this is a matter of immediate urgency to the employees of this tannery? These have been on unemployment benefit now for three days every week for practically the last 12 months. When they come to be totally disemployed in the course of a couple of weeks they will be excluded from unemployment benefit and will be entirely dependent on home assistance or unemployment assistance. They, and some thousand dependents, are awaiting an immediate solution of this problem. In view of that, would the Minister not undertake some immediate action, even if only of a temporary nature, to get them out of their difficulties?
I wish I could find the remedy with the simple ease that the Deputy would suggest. It is an extremely difficult problem. From the over-all point of view there is little use in retaining workers in employment in one factory if, by doing so, one is going to put employees out of employment in another factory. It has to be recognised in all this business that public taste in the matter of footwear has changed considerably. Tanners ought to have recognised that long before now, and they certainly ought to recognise it now. As the Deputy may be aware, the heavy boot trade is not the same to-day as it was ten, 15 or 20 years ago. The increasing use of rubber-soled footwear and Wellington boots has dealt a pretty heavy blow to the production of the type of leather produced at Portlaw, and may well have a similar effect on other tanneries in the future. That is due to public taste. In the United States it is estimated that nearly 60 per cent. of the footwear produced is soled with rubber or substitute rubber soling. A similar situation exists in Britain and in continental countries, in which we have made inquiries, and these are difficulties which cannot be solved by tanners burying their heads in the sand.