Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 12 Dec 1956

Vol. 160 No. 15

Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Production and Disemployment.

Mr. MacBride

asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will state the causes for the steep fall in the volume of production of manufacturing industries in (a) the June quarter of this year, when the index number stood at 101.5 compared with 107.1 for the June quarter, 1955, and (b) the September quarter of this year, when the index number stood at 98.2 compared with 107.7 for the September quarter of 1955.

Mr. MacBride

asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he can state in regard to the fall in employment of 6,281 in industries producing transportable goods in the 12 month period ended last September (a) the causes for this steep fall in employment, (b) the extent to which disemployment in these industries was offset, if at all, by new industries set up during the period, and (c) the extent to which the disemployment took place in well-established industries.

Mr. Norton

With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take Question No. 12 and Question No. 13 together; and to circulate in the official report a statement, prepared by the Central Statistics Office, showing the estimated changes in employment in the various industries producing transportable goods in September, 1956, as compared with September, 1955.

I am not in a position, without a special investigation, to say to what extent disemployment has been offset by new industries established during the period in question. As regards the causes for the decline in employment and production, I would refer the Deputy to the answers given by me and by the Minister for Finance to similar questions by him on the 29th November, 1956.

Following is the statement:—

ESTIMATED NUMBER OF PERSONS ENGAGED* IN TRANSPORTABLE GOODS INDUSTRIES IN SEPTEMBER, 1955 AND 1956, SHOWING INCREASES AND DECREASES.

Industry	Sept., 1955	Sept., 1956	Increase+	Decrease–
Total Mining, quarrying and turf	9,357	8,915			–	442
Bacon curing	3,888	3,880			–	8
Butter, cheese, condensed milk, margarine, chocolate crumb, ice cream, etc.	4,712	4,463			–	249
Grain milling and animal feedingstuffs	5,408	5,219			–	189
Bread, flour confectionery and biscuits	11,041	10,374			–	667
Manufacture of sugar, sugar confectionery, jam making, preserved vegetables, etc.	9,231	8,152			–	1,079
Distilling	740	635			–	105
Malting	1,073	814			–	259
Brewing	4,761	4,730			–	31
Aerated and mineral waters	1,770	1,786	+	16
Tobacco	2,642	2,600			–	42
Woollen and worsted	5,816	5,681			–	135
Linen, cotton, jute, canvas, rayon and made up textile goods (except apparel)	6,787	6,765			–	22
Hosiery	5,887	5,604			–	283
Boot and shoe (wholesale factories)	5,935	5,866			–	69
Clothing (wholesale factories):
Men's and boys'	5,454	4,818			–	636
Shirtmaking	1,913	1,885			–	28
Women's and girls'	6,550	6,918	+	368
Miscellaneous	1,085	1,138	+	53
Timber	4,455	4,351			–	104
Wood furniture and upholstery	3,924	3,487			–	437
Papermaking and manufactured stationery	4,648	4,844	+	196
Printing, publishing, bookbinding and engraving	9,109	9,135	+	26
Fellmongery and leather and leather manufacture	1,879	2,061	+	182
Fertilisers	1,088	1,041			–	47
Chemical, drug, oil, paint and polish	2,673	2,837	–	164
Soap and candle	687	747	+	60
Bricks, pottery, glass, cement and monumental masonry	6,150	5,594			–	556
Metal	6,863	6,872	+	9
Engineering and implements	5,029	4,892			–	137
Ship and boat building and repairing	776	809	+	33
Assembly, construction and repair of vehicles	6,859	5,052			–	1,807
Railroad equipment	3,046	2,863			–	183
Brushes and brooms	465	445			–	20
Miscellaneous Industries (including canning and preserving of fish, slaughtering, preparation, etc., of meat)	6,095	6,242	+	147
Transportable Goods: Total	157,796	151,515	+	1,254	–	7,535

*Including proprietors and salaried employees, but excluding outside pieceworkers.

Mr. MacBride

Does the Minister agree that the very steep fall in the volume of production of our manufactured industries is extremely alarming and will he not make a fresh assessment of the causes for this fall? I think that at the time that he and the Minister for Finance gave the reply the latest figures were not then available, at least not to the House. Whether they were available to the Minister or not, I do not know.

Mr. Norton

If the Deputy waits to look at the statistical information which I am making available to him, he will see the areas in which there have been increases in unemployment. Some of these increases are probably due to seasonal causes. Others are due to causes which, probably, the Deputy will be able to assess to some considerable extent himself.

Mr. MacBride

Does the Minister not consider it essential that he and the Government should have a clear assessment themselves and should be in a position to assess the causes of this most alarming fall in both production and employment and, further, can the Minister state whether he considers it possible to secure an expansion of production and industrial employment while a restricted credit policy is being pursued?

Mr. Norton

The credit policy, as I have indicated to the Deputy on a previous occasion, is a matter for the Minister for Finance. The Deputy will see, when he looks at this table, that there is an assessment of the extent of the unemployment in certain industries but not all of those are industries which concern Industry and Commerce alone. A number of these industries concern agriculture but are nevertheless brought under the heading of transportable goods because what is produced, although it may be an agricultural commodity, is transportable goods for the purpose of our record.

Mr. MacBride

What about production?

Major de Valera

What can the Government do to remedy the situation?