asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is aware that a wholly owned subsidiary company of a State sponsored company proposes with the help of State moneys to compete with existing iron foundries; and whether he is aware that as the market is already fully saturated by the existing works, this will mean merely that employees of some of the existing concerns will lose their employment.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Iron Foundries.
9.
The answer to the first part of the question is no. Presumably the Deputy refers to the Dalgan Steel Founders Ltd., one of the group of undertakings set up at Dundalk. This Company, like the others in the group, is an independent commercial concern. The State has not placed at its disposal any facilities that are not available to any other industrial concerns.
As to the second part of the question, I see no reason to assume that employment can be given at Dundalk only at the expense of employment elsewhere. There should be room for development of the iron founding business for both the home and the export markets.
Do I take it that the Minister does not agree that the market is already saturated?
I do not.
Would the Minister say whether this Dundalk project is a steel foundry or an iron foundry or whether it proposes to deal in iron as well as steel products?
It is a steel foundry.
Is it confining its activities to steel products or is it welling into the iron foundry business as well?
I understand it is doing both.
Then it is bound to have repercussions.