asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if, in view of the disemployment which may be caused at the Inchicore Works and in view of the adverse balance of trade position, he will request C.I.E. to refrain from placing any further orders abroad for the importation of railway coaches or wagons, or components thereof, without obtaining his prior sanction.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - C.I.E. Imports.
C.I.E. do not require my sanction for importing railway goods of the kind mentioned.
I have, however, frequently urged upon C.I.E. that goods of this kind should be manufactured in their own workshops whenever it is practicable and reasonably economic to do so.
C.I.E. have stated that they have not imported railway coaches or wagons in the years 1953, 1954, 1955 and do not intend to do so in 1956.
In view of the very large imports of component parts which it is said could have been manufactured here, would the Minister not consider it advisable—even as an interim measure—to request C.I.E. not to place any further orders without obtaining his prior sanction?
If the Deputy's supplementary question is based on the assumption that articles are being imported which it would be reasonably economic to make here, I think the Deputy's question is not based on the realities of the situation.
As I understood it, the Minister was having that investigated. Might I ask the Minister in the meanwhile to ask C.I.E. not to place any further orders abroad, without obtaining his prior sanction? As far as members of this House are concerned, they will have somebody whom they can question in regard to them.
Hear, hear!
The Deputy voted for the Transport Act which gave C.I.E. the right to run its own organisation, without any interference by the Minister for Industry and Commerce in its day-to-day administration. If the House wants to supervise C.I.E. in its day-to-day administration, the original Act will have to be amended to allow the House to discharge that function. Either the directors of C.I.E. must be allowed to run C.I.E. or somebody else must be allowed to run it for them. I have given C.I.E. a general direction, namely, that, as far as is economically possible, they should manufacture here in their works anything they require for running the railway and, so far, I have had no evidence adduced to me which would indicate that C.I.E. have departed from that policy.
Would the Minister not consider that if C.I.E. were in the habit of manufacturing certain portions of railway wagons here, the mere fact that they depart from that practice and proceed to import these parts manufactured abroad indicates that there has been some reason for the uneasiness which has been created in the public mind and in the minds of those who have been disemployed as a result?
I do not think the Deputy's information in that connection is correct, but I will take that as a supplementary on Question No. 5 and supply the Deputy with such information as I have on the matter, if the Ceann Comhairle permits.
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will state in regard to (a) diesel locomotives, diesel rail-cars and components thereof and (b) rail-wagons, coaches and components thereof, the total value of imports made by C.I.E. in each of the years 1953, 1954 and 1955, and the total estimated value of such imports for the year 1956.
I am informed by C.I.E. that the values of imports of diesel locomotives, diesel rail-cars and components thereof were as follows:—
|
£ |
|
|
1953 |
540,000 |
|
1954 |
288,000 |
|
1955 |
1,143,500 |
and that the total estimated value of imports of goods of these classes for 1956 is £4,620,780. In regard to rail-wagons and coaches the board state that, apart from 20 tar and bitumen tank wagons valued at £26,500 imported in 1954, there were no imports in any of the four years up to the present and none will be made during the remainder of 1956. With regard to components of rail-wagons and coaches the board have supplied the following estimated figures of imports:—
|
£ |
|
|
1953 |
141,430 |
|
1954 |
730,420 |
|
1955 |
298,950 |
|
1956 |
646,700 |
In reply to the supplementary question put by Deputy MacBride on Question No. 4, may I say that all the imports of diesel stock for 1953, 1954, 1955 and 1956 were ordered before June, 1954, and that substantially all the imports of coach and wagon components for 1953, 1954 and 1955 were ordered prior to June, 1954? I have been informed that carriage and wagon construction work is proceeding at Inchicore to a greater extent than ever before, that nothing is being imported now which was ever made here and that the carriage and wagon underframes of the type being imported were never made at Inchicore and could not be made there.
I have been informed as well that the welding of underframes before importation represents a value of £10. Work to the value of £100 per frame is performed on the imported welded frame. Any attempt to perform the welding of the frames would impede the performance of the additional work and would result in a net loss of employment. Steel wagon body panels are heavy pressings which could not be economically manufactured in Ireland and they are imported in the "black" and galvanised in Ireland. Cast steel bogie frames could not be made in Ireland. They represent an important technical advance in coach construction. Coach buffers in cast steel could not be made in Ireland, but wagon buffers which have a cast iron body are made at Inchicore and are not imported. Some were imported for a very short period. Wheels and axles are imported now in the same condition as that in which they were always imported and undergo further operations in Inchicore. I think that this information will probably assist Deputies in getting a new evaluation of the situation.
If some of the statements contained in the Minister's supplementary reply are proved to be unfounded in fact, will the Minister have an investigation carried out of the whole of that statement made to him by C.I.E.?
I welcome any information the Deputy or anybody else cares to send to me which purports to show that the information that I have now given is not in accordance with the facts. The information has been obtained by me at a discussion at which the chairman, the managing director and the chief mechanical engineer of C.I.E. attended.