I propose, with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle to take Questions Nos. 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 together.
These Questions include requests for information on matters of day to day administration of a technical character in regard to which I have no functions. These matters are the responsibility of the Directors of the company and, in that connection, answering one of the Deputy's enquiries I may say that I have the fullest confidence in the capacity and experience of the directors and that they possess the requisite qualifications to enable them to discharge their duties and responsibilities.
I had the statutory duty of presenting the company's audited accounts to each House of the Oireachtas. This I have done in respect of the most recent accounts and balance sheets as at 30th June, 1961, to which the Deputy refers. If the Deputy misreads or misunderstands these documents, I cannot help him because quite clearly they show the net profit for the year and the amount of issued capital —figures quite different from those quoted by the Deputy. The accounts also indicate that the issued capital was applied to the development project which has not yet been completed and, therefore, cannot be a factor in assessing the profits of the current business. No State money has been invested in the establishment or operation of the present plant producing steel at Haulbowline.
I am aware that the company has exported substantial quantities of steel in recent years. I have not seen the figures mentioned by the Deputy, but I am informed that the bulk of the steel so exported from Haulbowline has been in the form of reinforcing bars and that it is totally incorrect to suggest that these have been sold at £30 a ton or that steel has been imported which is being, or could be, in the circumstances at the time of such imports, manufactured at Haulbowline.
I am not prepared to divulge information as to the production processes, costs and prices of the company which might operate to its commercial disadvantage. On two of the Deputy's Questions, I may say that I am informed that iron ore can be used directly as a charge only in blast furnaces or similar plant which do not at present exist at Haulbowline and that the quality of the steel produced there under present conditions has never been challenged and has, indeed, been commended.