I think the approach to this whole question of inviting foreign technical know-how in the further industrialisation of the country has on the whole been well received, not merely by the political Parties within the State but by the general public as a whole. Quite frankly, I think it is essential that the possibilities of establishing new industries by this means should be explored. It may well be that our hopes will be disappointed; it could very well happen that we could get considerable gratification from our successful pioneering efforts in this field, but, at all events, this channel ought to be explored to see what are the possibilities in this direction. If there are no possibilities, then it is clear to each and every one of us that the further development must come from our own efforts and, if we fail by our own efforts to achieve the necessary further development, then we are going to have with us as long as we live the chronic economic problems which have defied solution over the past 34 years.
Let us face the facts — the cruel economic facts of life this world and in this country. We are perched here on a rock off the coast of western Europe. That is our position. Life here is the life that we make it, and the standard of life here will be the standard of living which we will weave for ourselves. That standard, which we with our own brains and working with our own hands make, is the only standard of life we can enjoy. The extent to which we exercise our ingenuity will play a bigger part in earning a standard of living here than anything else. This country is not rich —we must face facts—in some of the basic materials that have made other countries rich in spite of themselves. This country has so far not discovered oil or has not so far discovered coal in the quantities that have made other countries great. This country has been deficient in other basic raw materials and it is because of these facts, facts which cannot be gainsaid, facts which cannot be ignored, that there is imposed on us the still heavier-than-normal burden of trying so to organise our economy that, recognising our deficiencies in the economic field, we can nevertheless make up for these deficiencies by fabricating articles from imported raw materials, and by attaining a standard of excellence in workmanship so as to be able to distribute these in an economically rewarding way throughout the world.
There is nobody in the world waiting to-day for any raw materials we have, if indeed we have any raw materials about which the world is excited or interested. We have no store-house here on which the world casts envious eyes, and our problem is to try to sell the limited quantity we have for export in markets which are highly competitive, in markets in which we can only retain our foothold by our ability to sell there at the keenest possible prices. If we are to maintain that foothold in these markets, maintain our position in these markets — substantial in one case, relatively small in most other cases — we can only do so by the exercise of economic ingenuity and the technical skill possessed by our own people.
Over the last 30 years various Governments in this country have sought in every way to strengthen in accordance with the dictum of Arthur Griffith, "our secondary arm," and during that long period, various Governments, the Opposition as well as this Government, sought in every way to strengthen the economic fabric of the nation along those lines and develop our secondary industries.
I give credit to all these Governments. Let us recognise this fact. We gain nothing either nationally or economically by trying to say: "We did so-and-so while you only did so-and-so." That is relatively unimportant compared with the problem facing us to-day. The problem facing us to-day, the problem of the disequilibrium in our balance of payments, the problem of of under investment, the problem of unemployment and the economic problem which induces thousands of our people to leave this country every year to make elsewhere commodities which ought to be made here — these are problems so great in magnitude as to dwarf any of these petty, puny considerations of who did this or who did that.
What does it matter to the Irish lad working in Birmingham or London who did this or that? What does it matter to the Irish boy or girl who has had to go to Canada for a living who did this or that? Is the main problem not to provide them with the answer to the question: "Where can I get a decent living?" We can only do that if we all recognise that no matter what Government is in power there is an obligation on all Governments to continue the drive until such time as we can build here an economy which will eliminate many of the evils which are with us to-day. They were with us 34 years ago and have so far defied solution.
I considered it would be worth while investigating the possibilities of seeing whether we could develop more industries with outside technical assistance. If there is any industrialist in this country who has even the glimmer of an idea of starting a new industry to produce something which is not at present manufactured here and if there is anything I can do for him, anything my Department can do for him, or the Government can do for him, within the limits of existing legislation, I now publicly invite him to come to the Department of Industry and Commerce and he will get every possible assistance to blow up his ideas in any direction he wishes until such time as we can get from him some concrete project which could be developed to fruition.
That policy is being tried, and has been tried, by various Governments but, notwithstanding all the efforts and notwithstanding some distinct successes, we still have a situation in which we import a very considerable quantity of goods and, in respect of a substantial proportion of these goods, it may be said it ought to be possible to produce them in Ireland. I want, first of all, to get Irish industrialists to produce the goods. I would sooner see these goods produced by Irish industrialists, by Irish firms with Irish capital.
We have tried to do that over the past 34 years and still we have this vast vacuum in our economy notwithstanding all our efforts. I still appeal to the Irish industrialists to go out after the establishment of new industries. Every possible assistance will be given to the Irish industrialist to do that, but if we cannot do it in those fields in which we are not noted for our technical ability to do these things, I feel we should tap the possibilities of inviting foreign technical assistance to come in here. If we are not making a variety of goods to-day because we have not got the requisite technical knowledge, then it seems to me we have got to get the requisite technical knowledge. If the Irish industrialist will get that technical knowledge and exploit it we will give him every possible help. But if it cannot be found we cannot sit down and permit our present difficulties to continue either because we are too conservative or too lazy to test out new ideas.
I want to see these new ideas tested out, to see if there is any possibility of getting from the people who have technical knowledge an interest in investing in Ireland for the purpose of supplying to our people goods which are at present imported, for the purpose of providing employment for our people and for the purpose of enabling us with the goods produced here and perhaps exported from here to pay for the other commodities which we must necessarily import if we are going to maintain the present or indeed a civilised standard of life. Look at the facts. In the 12 months of last year we imported £204,000,000 of goods— physical imports. We exported in physical exports £110,000,000 worth of goods. We may fill in the gap by invisible exports in the form of emigrants' remittances, dividends on equity shares and tourism.
But in the end we are still left with a balance of payments and quite clearly it is an undesirable position that we should have to balance our payments by reliance on such sources of income as emigrants' remittances and the continuance of the tourist industry. It would be much better from our point of view if we could cut down our imports by inducing our people where possible to buy Irish manufactured goods. In the £204,000,000 worth of goods which came in last year, and which have been coming in greater or lesser volume every year, there is a substantial quantity of goods for which there are substitute materials here. If we could induce our people to recognise that every time they bought goods from abroad when the same goods could be bought in Ireland, they were helping to make economic difficulties for the country and economic problems for the people, then we might get down to approaching this problem with an adjusted mentality and we might be able to get into our people's minds a greater consciousness of what is expected of them in so far as their duty to their own country is concerned.
There are people still tattooed with the idea that if a thing is foreign — if it is British, American or German — it must be good. They probably make a case against the Irish manufacture and say that if it is Irish it is no good because we still have not got the art of making such goods. Yet every shop window in this city and every factory in the country is a living example of the untruthfulness of such statements. Excellent goods are being made here and exported from here, but unfortunately we still have the mentality which believes that if the same goods are bought outside the country they must be good.
It is not just my task to kill that idea. It is the task of the Opposition, of ever man and woman who believe in Ireland, to kill that false economic philosophy. Whatever our difficulties are, we must get together in killing that notion and in replacing it with the idea that as good articles are manufactured here as are available elsewhere. I have called attention to the fact that our physical exports last year were £110,000,000 and that our imports were £204,000,000. It is because we have a situation of that kind that we have a balance of payments problem and it is because of that problem that this Government will be compelled to take steps that may have to be stern steps, disagreeable steps, but whether they are stern or disagreeable they must be taken if we are to protect our whole economy against a continuance of a state of affairs which would run down, in the interest of the importation of consumption goods, assets which are very valuable to us from a national viewpoint, from an economic viewpoint and from a political viewpoint.
