Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 15 May 1956

Vol. 157 No. 3

Written Answers. - Imports of Motor Vehicles and Components.

Mr. McQuillan

asked the Taoiseach if he will state in respect of each of the last ten years the quantity and total cost of imports of (a) motor-cars and other assembled motor vehicles, (b) unassembled parts of motors and similar vehicles, (c) tractors and other assembled farm machinery, and (d) unassembled parts of tractors and other farm machinery.

The Taoiseach

The information asked for by the Deputy is not available in the exact detail specified.

Table 1, however, shows for each of the years 1946-55 the value of imports of (a) complete motor-cars and other motor vehicles; (b) motor-cars and other vehicles (including parts), other than complete; and (c) agricultural tractors and other agricultural machinery. It is not possible to distinguish between assembled and unassembled items in (c). Table 2 gives details of the quantity and value of the principal items included in Table 1 for each of the years in question. It would not be practicable to enumerate separately in the Official Report quantities and values for all the minor items.

Following are the tables:—

TABLE 1.—The value in each of the years 1946-55 of imports of (a) complete motor-cars and other motor vehicles; (b) motor-cars and other motor vehicles (including parts), other than complete; and (c) agricultural tractors and other agricultural machinery.

Year	Motor-cars and other motor vehicles	Agricultural tractors and other agricultural machinery
Complete	Other
	£	£	£
1946	863,956	2,422,003	891,583
1947	1,592,537	4,854,190	1,663,263
1948	1,548,271	6,031,346	1,930,239
1949	1,153,882	5,596,507	1,320,471
1950	933,618	6,711,669	1,746,387
1951	956,904	7,499,795	2,998,705
1952	262,723	5,982,003	3,067,348
1953	130,630	6,752,787	3,828,955
1954	152,440	10,789,273	5,164,903
1955	152,343	12,389,167	4,672,141

TABLE 2.—THE QUANTITY AND VALUE IN EACH OF THE YEARS 1946-55 OF IMPORTS OF THE PRINCIPAL ITEMS INCLUDED IN TABLE 1.

Selected items	Unit of Quantity	1946	1947	1948	1949	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955
Quantity	Value	Quantity	Value	Quantity	Value	Quantity	Value	Quantity	Value	Quantity	Value	Quantity	Value	Quantity	Value	Quantity	Value	Quantity	Value
			£		£		£		£		£		£		£		£		£		£
Motor cars and other assembled vehicles
Cars including taxis	No.	349	113,793	933	468,858	631	223,104	180	94,323	160	93,790	139	118,228	114	79,277	64	42,006	92	67,260	108	96,185
Omnibuses	,,	2	2,191	3	469	117	405,887	71	238,072	15	16,465	10	6,392	7	2,620	4	9,698	3	915	11	4,327
Trucks, vans etc,	,,	2,152	669,640	2,830	942,824	1,739	581,372	975	374,568	1,034	367,977	913	382,215	149	122,623	59	26,693	42	24,133	48	21,623
Road motor vehicles, n.e.s.	,,	401	78,332	577	180,386	650	337,908	332	446,919	457	455,386	361	450,069	231	58,203	92	52,233	129	60,132	190	30,208
Unassembled parts of motors and similar vehicles:
Bodies (coach work) aggregates	,,		303,847		739,799		1,038,978		1,217,540		1,330,905		1,355,656	14,979	1,084,530	18,015	1,262,786	29,854	2,065,870	33,655	2,367,872
Chassis aggregates:
Motor cycles and tricycles	,,		13,354		38,509		53,409		34,528		68,630		83,434	1,250	91,169	3,590	248,925	6,399	442,037	11,195	647,161
Passenger cars														10,591	1,975,520	14,151	2,647,438	23,335	4,416,202	26,581	5,208,117
Omnibuses														84	155,132	152	269,478	83	148,812	120	187,212
Goods vehicles	,,		1,290,168		2,747,316		3,492,711		3,143,037		3,849,224		4,231,632	4,434	1,165,780	4,081	1,023,373	6,806	2,029,985	7,360	2,045,628
Other														56	14,344	47	15,835	29	18,077	39	6,680
Parts (excluding bodies and chassis)	value		785,004		1,254,491		1,368,132		1,144,378		1,424,653		1,718,872		908,586		830,619		1,118,465		1,154,052
Parts of internal combustion diesel and semi-diesel engines	,,														324,526		326,010		360,307		546,902
Other items, n.e.s.	'		29,630		74,075		78,116		57,024		38,257		110,201		262,416		128,323		189,518		225,543
Agricultural tractors and other agricultural machinery:
Tractors (except Steam)	No.	1,438	304,264	2,993	850,844	3,029	855,082	1,883	536,969	2,575	756,000	3,891	1,272,883	3,469	1,333,856	4,360	1,737,482	5,377	2,276,003	4,652	1,952,945
Ploughs	,,	1,760	46,634	2,323	65,188	2,403	78,691	1,152	35,947	1,425	64,680	2,642	104,903	1,847	77,636	2,250	97,977	3,577	163,015	2,658	126,703
Manure, etc., distributors	'	54	1,654	99	3,980	381	16,394	603	22,979	648	29,053	704	43,654	812	78,745	885	78,714	1,293	126,853	1,541	155,153
Combined harvesters	,,													227	168,203	353	313,440	899	690,099	484	421,958
Mowing machines—hay	,,	180	7,216	295	11,715	335	14,070	515	21,973	870	37,292	787	35,976	1,646	92,422	1,632	103,139	2,211	140,629	2,045	129,105
Loaders and balers	,,															831	90,606	1,052	142,777	1,534	198,033
Planting and seeding machines	,,															961	89,004	1,924	153,372	1,316	93,831
Parts of agricultural machinery	cwt.		188,194		221,078		224,146		249,421		229,424		352,791		339,777	32,711	408,861	39,041	487,975	39,317	525,869
Tractor parts	,,						140,548		96,912		123,229		198,609	12,471	269,895	12,531	283,948	16,216	351,787	15,942	334,257
Other items, n.e.s.	value		343,621		510,458		601,308		356,270		506,709		989,889		706,814		625,784		632,393		734,287
Total of above	,,		4,177,542		8,109,990		9,509,856		8,070,860		9,391,674		11,455,404		9,312,074		10,712,372		16,106,616		17,213,651

n.e.s. = not elsewhere specified. = not available.