I move:
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £10 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1963, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Department of the Taoiseach.
The conclusion of the debate on this Estimate will mark the end of the Dáil summer session for 1962 during which I think I can say that a fairly full programme of work was completed, even if not all the work which the Government originally contemplated. I am proposing that the Dáil should reassemble on October 30th. In view of the amount of business which is lined up for the next session, I contemplate that the Dáil will need to sit on three days weekly up to about December 13th or December 20th. An eight weeks session would give 165 sitting hours. Deputies are aware that there is a proposal coming before the Dáil regarding Private Members' Time which will involve an allocation of three hours weekly to private Deputies' business in that session. That should leave 142 hours for official business and it should be possible to do a lot of work in that time.
It is customary for the Taoiseach when introducing the Estimate on his Department to review the state of the national economy for the previous 12 months, to analyse current economic trends and to attempt to forecast future developments so far as that is practicable; and also to deal with other outstanding aspects of our affairs. Last year, this debate on the Taoiseach's Estimate took place in circumstances in which everybody knew that a general election was pending and it therefore developed a more controversial note than usual. This year there is no such event in prospect.
Recounting events which have already happened is not usually difficult, even if agreement on interpretation of the facts is not assured. It is a relatively safe political exercise. Attempting to foretell what may develop is often a more hazardous exercise, for politicians as well as for economists. This year, Deputies who have been keeping in touch with events know that there are quite a number of people, expert or otherwise, who are purporting to read our future with every outward appearance of assurance.
So far as a review of economic events is concerned, I am in the difficulty that it would be almost impossible for me to add to the information contained in a number of economic reviews and forecasts which have recently been made available to Deputies. Deputies who have done their homework and studied these reports and publications have all the factual information concerning the country's economic progress and prospects which it is possible to give them, indeed, much more information than Deputies used to have as the older members of the House will testify. The scope of the national statistical service is constantly increasing and authoritative interpretation of the available statistics is now forthcoming in much greater volume.
In recent months, Deputies have received the Budget statement of the Minister for Finance, the OECD survey of Irish Economic Conditions and prospects, the Central Bank Report for 1961-62, recently published, the Economic Research Institute's publication of Dr. Kuehn's Report on the prospects of the Irish economy, the economic survey prepared for and adopted by the National Employer-Labour Conference and the bi-annual progress report on the Programme for Economic Expansion. Through these documents, a broad picture of the country's present economic circumstances was given to Deputies, and comment on them in the newspapers and other journals has been plentiful.
While I do not wish to depart entirely from traditional procedures, neither do I want to take up the time of the Dáil by recounting facts which Deputies should already know, although that may be necessary to some extent. In 1961, the national income was £42,000,000, or eight per cent., more than in 1960. I read in the papers yesterday a statement by the President of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions made at their meeting in Galway that "no deterioration in the economy occurred during the year". That surely was an understatement of classical character.
The fact is that the increase in the national income last year was the highest ever recorded in any single year in our history. In the Economic Research Institute publication to which I have referred, the forecast is made that the 1961 growth in the national income will not be exceeded percentagewise in this year. Their guess is that the gross national product will increase in this year by £46,000,000 as compared with £42,000,000 last year, representing an increase of seven per cent over 1961. In other words, while they anticipate an improvement, over 1961, in the increase in money value of the national income, it will represent a smaller percentage rise than in the previous year. The Central Bank's estimate is similar.
I have recently glanced through Dr. Geary's reprinted brochure on economic forecasting and, having done so, I certainly am in considerable doubt as to what importance should be attached to these figures. I suppose the significant thing from our point of view is that these authorities do not anticipate any speeding up of the country's rate of progress in this year. These calculations are of course based on current prices and reflect the rise in prices during the recent past. When they are adjusted to constant prices, which reveal the volume rather than the value of output, the rate of expansion, which was four per cent. in 1961, will be, as estimated by these authorities, around three per cent. in 1962.
A variation in the rate of advance, if that should be the outcome of the year—it is still largely a matter of guesswork and may be greatly influenced by international and other circumstances—reflects some of the uncertainties which at our present stage of development affect the fulfilment of our national development aims. The country continues to go ahead and uniformity of progress is not to be expected, particularly in a free society where policies and actions which can influence the rate of economic advance rest on the decisions of organisations and groups which are independent of the Government and which, while they may be influenced by Government policy, are not in the last analysis subject to control. What is important, in my view, is that we should not, because of any forecast or experience, allow economic policy to become, or even appear to become, defensive. An aggressive policy is still the best. We need an acceleration of our rate of growth and must be prepared to take risks in bringing it about.
Leaving aside for the moment the changes which membership of the European Economic Community must bring about, the conditions essential for economic progress are, in my view, the following. First, the maximum degree of competitiveness in every economic activity. There is no future for any kind of feather-bedded enterprise. If the Government are to do their duty and do it properly, they will have to start now exerting pressure to secure the fulfilment of the policy of eliminating every factor bearing on production that is obsolete, that has outlived its utility or is a handicap of any kind to the country's economic advancement.
Secondly, internal price stability is very important. I accept that this is in part at least a function of Government policy—financial and fiscal policy—but to be fully successful the Government needs to be supported by a general willingness to adapt sectional policies to the same end. Thirdly, we need a still higher level of investment, both on public and private account, in productive activities in agriculture and industry, brought about, in so far as the private sector is concerned, by means of taxation or other inducements and, perhaps, improvement of the facilities for investment.
Fourthly, we need an extension in quality and quantity of technical training facilities of all kinds. As the years pass, I believe the unskilled labourer will become more and more of an anachronism. Already we are experiencing in this country some checks upon our progress by reason of deficiencies of skilled personnel. Any programme to extend the country's facilities for specialised training must necessarily be a medium to long term one. These must be the primary purposes of the nation at this time. There are of course many and important subsidiary purposes, but unless these main aims are accomplished, our achievements will be less than the best of which we should be capable.
The rate of increase in the national income in 1961, as it was in 1959 and in 1960 and as it will be in 1962, was considerably higher than the two per cent. increase which was forecast in the Programme for Economic Expansion. To understand what that signifies, it is necessary only to contrast our experience in these years with the average annual rate of growth of less than one per cent. up to 1958 and an actual fall in production in two of the post-war years. We have informed the OECD that within the ambit of an expanding European economy, we regard it as practicable for this country to increase its national income by 50 per cent. by 1970.
Most of these reports and surveys to which I have referred thought fit to stress—perhaps because of the fact that our rate of progress has proved to be higher than was assumed in the development programme—that there are no grounds for complacency. I must say I have seen no evidence of complacency in the Government or in the Dáil. We believe it is a good thing to tell the people how well they are doing when that is justified by the facts. We think it is necessary to stress now that we are not doing well enough. Our national income per head of the population, notwithstanding all the recent growth, is still well below that of most other European countries, excepting only Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal. We may have begun to catch up on the others, but we have still a long way to go before we move to a higher place on the European handicap table.
Agriculture's contribution to the national income in 1961 was £140,000,000 representing 24 per cent of the total. That was a smaller percentage than previously. Agriculture's contribution to the national income has fallen from 29.3 per cent of the total in 1953 to the 1961 figure of 24 per cent. That matter has been referred to here before in the Dáil, particularly by Deputy Dillon, and I think some misunderstanding regarding the significance of these figures has been generated.
They have been represented as evidence of an agricultural decline. In fact, the value of agricultural output in 1961 was the highest ever recorded in the country, even though it represented a smaller proportion of the total of the national income in that year. What is happening is that the national income as a whole is advancing at a greater rate than agricultural output. That is very welcome, indeed very necessary, evidence of the growth of non-agricultural activities. We have not yet brought about what I would regard as a proper balance between agriculture and manufacturing industry, judging by Dutch or Danish standards.
Males over 14 years of age employed in farm work on 1st June, 1961, were 2,000 fewer than on the corresponding date in 1960. That was a fall of about half of one per cent. and was the lowest fall recorded in any year since the war. In the five years from 1956 to 1961, the number of persons occupied in agriculture fell by 8.1 per cent. Agricultural output went up by 5 per cent. It is possible therefore, to calculate that output per person employed in agriculture, that is to say, the productivity of agriculture, improved during those years by 14.3 per cent. That figure supports the NFA claim that the increase in productivity in agriculture has been higher than in any other sectors during that period.
Industrial output in 1961 increased by 9 per cent over 1960 and that was substantially above the European average. Industrial employment increased by 4 per cent. The National Management-Labour Conference survey, which I have already mentioned, comments on the general experience that, when production is expanding, employment does not increase in the same proportion, and our 1961 statistics bear this out. Industry's contribution to the national income rose to 28.3 per cent of the total in 1961 which, while considerably higher than it was, indeed the highest ever, is still low by European standards.
What are the prospects for industry in this year? In the first quarter of this year, industrial production was 5 per cent higher than in the corresponding quarter last year. Whether that rate of expansion can be maintained throughout the year may be doubtful, but there are some prospects that it may. In the past three years, industrial production in Ireland has increased by 27 per cent. That is a figure we can present with some pride because it has been exceeded in only one other European country. Of course we need a still higher rate of expansion to achieve the level of activity we require and to maintain a high enough rate of employment expansion.
The value and volume of our imports have increased sharply since 1956. In the present year, they have already moved slightly above the 1961 level. They may tend to rise higher because of the greater expenditure by our people upon consumer goods consequent upon the income increases they have secured. On the other hand, there are very welcome indications of a greater propensity to save. Post Office Savings Bank deposits and Savings Certificates are running well above last year's level.
The percentage increase in our exports during the same period, that is, since 1956, was much higher than for imports. At the present time, however, while imports are still tending to expand, our exports may be showing some tendency to contract. For the twelve month period to the end of June, the total value of our exports was £177,000,000 as against £180,000,000 for the calendar year 1961. The Economic Research Institute's forecast assumes that, in this year, there will be an increase of three per cent. in industrial exports and no change in agricultural exports. If livestock prices hold at their present level, that assumption may prove to be unduly pessimistic.
Agricultural exports accounted for the bulk of the increase that took place last year, an increase of £27.5 million or 18 per cent. That rate of increase could not be expected to continue. It involves some pulling down of cattle stocks. While, as I have said, the volume of exports is still very much higher than it was in the years before 1961, the rise is not continuing, certainly not at the same rate.
For a country so dependent upon exports as we are for the level of our prosperity and for the maintenance of employment, this could be a danger signal. The report of Córas Tráchtála, our export promoting organisation, as Deputies know, for the year 1961/62 will be available to Deputies in the next day or two. It reveals the increasing scope of the measures which are being brought into operation to assist our exporters to expand their markets. The Central Bank in its report emphasises that conditions in our main export markets are not likely to disimprove during the year so that any falling off in the rate of expansion of our exports must be attributable in the main to internal factors.
We had no balance of payments problem in 1961 and it is, perhaps, worthy of comment that a higher tourist income contributed to that position. Deputies will have received this morning the annual report of Bord Fáilte which reveals the extent to which tourist receipts have become a very important factor in our balance of payments. It is anticipated that there may be an over-all deficit this year of about £8,000,000, or more, in our external payments. That is not, as the Central Bank emphasises in its report, a cause for alarm but it indicates the need there is to sustain the drive to increase exports. It is expected that the continuing capital inflow will counteract any effect on our external financial reserves.
The Management-Labour Conference Survey states this:
The central objective of economic policy should be the attainment of the highest possible level of economic expansion consistent with reasonable price stability and without seriously disturbing equilibrium in the balance of payments.
That sentence adequately expresses the Government's purpose.
The economic progress of recent years was stimulated by a greatly increased programme of public capital expenditure which was directed as far as possible to productive purposes. It is estimated, as Deputies have been already informed, that in the present financial year public capital expenditure will be higher by 25 per cent than it was in 1961. Comparing our estimated public capital outlay in this year with, say, the financial year 1958-59 there has been a total increase of 80 per cent. The Central Bank in their report had some critical comments to make upon our capital programme, pointing out that much of it is still directed to objectives of a social nature, and that is true. As compared with 1958 it is anticipated that in this year capital outlay upon schools and hospitals will be 50 per cent higher and on housing 60 per cent higher.
I have said, however, that it is the policy of the Government to direct investment as far as possible to productive purposes and to some extent that result has been achieved because, as compared with 1958, capital expenditure in this year upon agriculture will be 140 per cent higher and on industry 190 per cent higher.
It is worthy of comment that so far we have financed this greatly expanded public capital investment programme without incurring any external liabilities, without incurring liabilities expressed otherwise than in our own currency.
Turning now to deal with the position regarding employment, I think I should tell Deputies that comparisons with previous years based upon sales of social insurance stamps or the number of social insurance books current at any time may heretofore be invalidated to some extent by reason of wage and salary increases which have brought or are bringing some numbers of normally insured persons beyond the £800 insurance limit. In 1961, 10,000 new jobs were created outside agriculture and that number exceeded by 6,000 the decline in the numbers occupied in agriculture, forestry and fishing in that year. Net emigration in 1961 at 22,000 was 20,000 below the figure for the previous year and in this year, 1962, up to date, emigration appears to be running about 10 per cent below the corresponding figure for 1961.
The population in this year, 1962, will it is expected be about 5,000 up on 1961. That is good news because a rising population is a powerful stimulus to economic development.
The unemployment register has moved somewhat erratically this year showing numbers higher than last year in some weeks and lower in others. The highest number on the register in any week here was considerably below the corresponding figure for last year. In 1961, the unemployment percentage, that is to say, the number of insured workers who were on the average in each week of the year unemployed was 5.7 per cent which is the lowest figure we have ever recorded here.
The National Management-Labour Conference Survey reports some shortages of skilled labour and this is a situation which is likely to persist notwithstanding some evidence of a return of workers, particularly of building tradesmen, from Britain. The labour reserve of this country is not measured by our unemployment register and includes Irish workers who are presently employed in Britain and elsewhere who would readily return here in consideration of secure employment prospects. That is a consideration which we believe has influenced many firms in locating new factories here rather than elsewhere.
I have mentioned that the Economic Research Institute's forecast is that the rate of growth this year may not exceed, or may not exceed by very much, 3 per cent in real terms. Some slowing down in the rate of economic expansion appears to be a feature in all European countries this year. The British official forecast is that the British economy will expand this year by 2½ per cent. Although our estimated growth rate of 3 per cent is higher than that anticipated in Britain it is still not enough. I said last year that we needed to double the current rate of expansion. We have gone some distance towards that goal but there is still need to improve further, if we are to achieve our purpose of full employment, with a 50 per cent increase in national income by 1970.
It is noteworthy and encouraging that there has been no diminution in the rate of factory construction or, indeed, in the number of proposals for new industries which are coming into the Department of Industry and Commerce or the Industrial Development Authority. There is, as we all recognise, at present some element of uncertainty regarding the outcome of our application for membership of the European Economic Community and that may have some effect in this year upon our industrial development. If that idea is correct, then the present high rate of development, as high as it was in any previous year, would lead us to anticipate a real spurt forward on the industrial front when that uncertainty has been removed.
It would, however, be foolish to ignore some unwelcome features and trends which the experts have diagnosed and which are indeed easily recognisable. They are mentioned in the Economic Research Institute's forecast and in the Labour-Management Conference Survey. Chief of these is that increases in personal incomes have run ahead of productivity, involving some loss of competitive power, higher consumer prices and a danger of higher imports of consumer goods. Our future progress must depend to a large extent on the efforts which are now being made to raise the level of productivity to match this rise in incomes. If that is not accomplished we could soon be in trouble in our development programme.
I think we all recognise and accept that economic expansion is essential for the realisation of national aims in every sphere. It is only in an expanding economy that we can achieve significant social and cultural progress. Anything which deters expansion, anything which slows its rate, operates to delay the realisation of these aims. Deputies have during this year as in previous years constantly urged the payment of higher social benefits, more expenditure on education, subsidies for this and that, higher outlays of one kind or another upon objects we all would accept as desirable. Before we can have any of these advantages, we must earn the money to pay for them and earn it by expanding output and expanding exports, and that calls for real competitiveness in all branches of economic activity.
How is that to be achieved? There was published last year a statement of productivity principles which was prepared under the auspices of the National Productivity Committee, and it was accepted by the representatives of organised workers and organised employers. That statement helps us to find the answer. The Central Bank in their report very rightly say the statement deserves more repeated and widespread publicity than it has received. That joint declaration showed full appreciation of the need to improve productivity, emphasised the common advantages which would be derived by workers, employers and consumers, and it may help to secure at every level acceptance of the need for positive action.
Industrial productivity rose by 4½ per cent in 1961. The Economic Research Institute says it will rise by less than 4 per cent in this year. Productivity increases in industry in 1959 and 1960 were estimated at 7 per cent and 3½ per cent respectively. The survey prepared for the National Management-Labour Conference estimates that between 1959 and 1961 unit labour costs in this country increased by 5 per cent and that is the measure of the more rapid advance of wages and costs than of productivity. It is in sharp contrast with the experience of some other countries where higher wages were accompanied by lower unit costs. However, not all countries have had that happy experience. The spectacle of higher costs pushing up prices and reducing export competitiveness has not been exclusive to ourselves. That may not be much of a consolation; I do not think it is even a good excuse; but the fact is that of 12 European countries from which statistics are available, in the case of five of them, the percentage increase in prices was higher than here; in the case of six of them, the increase was less and in the case of one of them, Switzerland, the increase was the same. There was no case in which there was not some increase, with the lowest in Belgium and the highest in Denmark. In all these countries, however, serious concern over these rising costs is evident and is being widely expressed, and that concern must be no less evident here.
I attempted earlier this year to forecast that the eighth round of wage increases would raise the general internal price level here by between five and six per cent. The Economic Research Unit estimate that prices will rise between four and five per cent and that will probably prove to be correct, although the eighth round has not yet been completed and higher costs are not yet fully reflected in all prices. Recent price increases were almost entirely due to this cause and certainly so if we include the tax changes which were made in the recent Budget as part of the eighth round adjustment, as I think we should. The point I want to emphasise is that higher import prices played a comparatively insignificant part; the main causes of price increases have been internal.
The importance of price stability is, I think, obvious to us all and in this survey adopted by the National Management-Labour Conference the following appears:
The improvement in the purchasing power of wages and earnings has taken place mainly in the last four years and during the greater part of this period prices remained remarkably stable.
When the effect of recent wage rises has been fully absorbed in our internal prices, they should stabilise again. There is certainly no reason in sight why they should not so stabilise and the aim must be to bring about that stability, particularly in the light of our recognition of the fact that the main beneficiaries of price stability will be the wage earners.
Regarding our application for membership of the European Economic Community, I cannot add very much to what I have previously told the Dáil, apart from the particulars which were published recently in the supplement to the White Paper. It is just a year now since we submitted our application for membership of the European Economic Community. Deputies will have seen the Press reports yesterday that the application of Ireland for membership of the Community was before the Council of Ministers at their meeting on Tuesday. After the meeting, our ambassador to the European Economic Community was received by the Chairman of the Council, Signor Colombo of Italy, and was informed that the Council had instructed their permanent representatives to continue their detailed study of our application and to report to the Council after the summer recess with a view to enabling the Council to give full consideration to the application at their meeting towards the end of September.
We have not got down to negotiations in the full sense of that word. Notwithstanding our natural desire to move ahead to these negotiations, we do not feel unduly concerned at this stage because we can understand that the Council members are preoccupied with their very complex negotiations with the British, as well as with such difficult problems as the detailed elaboration of the common agricultural policy and the relations of the Community with the new African States. It is understandable that they will not be in a position to make much further progress on our application before the outline of the conditions which will govern Britain's accession to the Community can be seen.
For these reasons, we consider that no good purpose would be served by seeking at this point of time to have a decision on our application expedited. The Member States of the European Economic Community know that Ireland is prepared to participate fully and effectively in the Community. I do not expect that there will be any avoidable delay in reaching decisions upon the terms and conditions of our membership. It is our understanding that they intend to bring negotiations with all the applicant States to finality on the same date. It is expected that a further meeting with Member States will take place soon after the Council have considered the report of their permanent representatives in September.
Deputies will also have seen in Press reports from Britain that there are some hopes that the peak of the British negotiations may be passed in the next couple of weeks and that an outline agreement on the important aspects of the negotiations will have been reached. Once agreement is reached on the main terms of Britain's accession, I expect that our application will not take long to complete. Nevertheless, it is not now expected that finality involving our accession as a member of the Community can be reached until some date next year.
The work of preparing the national economy for our entry into the Community is being pressed forward with all urgency. Deputies are undoubtedly familiar with the progress of the Committee on Industrial Organisation and will have studied their interim report on State aid to be granted to industry to enable it to adapt itself to the Common Market. They will know also that the Government promptly accepted the recommendations made and have already taken steps to give effect to them. Some further legislation may be needed to do so. It will, as the Minister for Industry and Commerce has announced, apply in so far as State aid for modernisation and adaptation is concerned, with retrospective effect.
The Minister for Industry and Commerce will also make another statement soon on some further decisions which were recently made. The Committee's survey report upon the cotton, lines and rayon industry was published last month, and I understand that the survey in relation to other industries has now reached an advanced stage, and will become available during the recess.
In the agricultural sector, a Committee on Agricultural Organisation has been established on which all the principal producer organisations are represented. That Committee is considering matters of broad policy in relation to the Common Market. Study groups representative of the producers, the processors, the trading interests, the trade unions, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Finance, have been formed to study the Common Market decisions and proposals in relation to particular agricultural commodities, to assess the implications of those decisions and proposals for this country, and to make recommendations on the steps which may be necessary to meet the new conditions which will operate on our accession to the Community.
In addition, surveys of the main agricultural processing industries are being carried out. The purpose of those surveys is to appraise the efficiency of our processing industries with a view to formulating all the measures of adjustment or adaptation to the conditions likely to be met within the European Economic Community. As the Minister for Agriculture announced during the course of his Estimate speech, it is also intended to arrange for a survey of the consumer food requirements of the principal Common Market countries by expert consultants.
I should like to reiterate what I have already said on a number of occasions. The period which must elapse before our application for membership can be brought to fruition will not operate to postpone the date by which we must expect to face, without protection, the unrestricted competition of the other members of the Community. The time for our preparation for that situation is already running. I am afraid it is not very easy to get that fact understood widely enough. The delay in finalising our membership will, indeed, have the effect of shortening the period between the date of our accession and the final elimination of protection. No matter when our membership begins, we must accept that the period of transition will be terminated on 31st December, 1969, as provided in the Treaty of Rome.
The number of industrial concerns which have already submitted proposals for State financial aid for reequipment of their plants, and for the expansion of their operations, is still far too few. The number of industrial firms availing of the technical assistance grants, which have now been raised to 50 per cent., is still far less than it should be. It might well be considered wise for us to start now the progress of tariff reduction even before our formal accession to membership of the European Economic Community. This would help both to promote a wider realisation of the urgency of the need for reorganisation and adaptation, and give a less speedy, less abrupt process of transition after our membership to free trade conditions.
It is essential, however we bring it about, that the work of promoting increased efficiency and productivity in all sectors of the economy should now be pushed ahead rapidly. As has been pointed out already, this work would have been necessary for the protection of the economy, even if there were no Common Market. The prospect of our entry into the Common Market gives it added urgency. The driving sense of urgency which permeates Government Departments and some State organisations is still not evident in sufficient degree throughout the private industries. On the success which we achieve in relation to that work now, will depend our ability to avail of the opportunities which will be open to us as members of the European Economic Community.
All the indications are that 1963 will be a year of great significance for this as well as other countries. Events will move very fast, particularly in Europe. They are likely to reach their culmination in decisions of great historical significance within the next 12 months. We certainly have to intention of allowing events to carry us along. We have taken all the decisions for which circumstances have called. Decisions were taken promptly, as required, and were clearly enunciated. I have given an assurance that we will not fail to make any future decisions which may be needed, and to make them in time.
Our decision to enter the Common Market was reached in the full understanding of the national circumstances and needs, and all the likely political, economic and social consequences of so doing. We know that all those consequences cannot be exactly defined or, perhaps, even foreseen now, although we can guess at their probable shape. We believe that, for the future welfare of the people of this country, the course we are continuing is the right one. We believe it is better than any other course that may be open to us. Of that we have no doubt.
We know we cannot fashion the world to our liking. We know that policy is always a matter of choosing between alternative courses. We have chosen the course of participation in the movement towards European integration as the one which is most likely to facilitate the realisation of our highest national objectives.
All the plans which are being made or discussed at this time in every sector under the auspices of the Government assume we will become members of the EEC and that the Rome Treaty will be fully implemented by 1970. However, planning on that basis must be undertaken not only by Government and State authorities but in every factory and farm.
It is easy to appreciate the very natural difficulty in getting everybody to start now all the work which needs to be completed soon and to make all the mental adjustments to the new situation which are required. Nevertheless, we can say, and it is some consolation, that we are certainly more advanced in our preparations both in a material and a psychological sense than were the present members of the EEC in 1957.
Without attempting in any way to minimise the magnitude of the reorganisation which we must now attempt, we must not be afraid of it, either. Indeed, I may say I have not discovered anywhere throughout the country any sense of apprehension regarding the future. It is important that none of us should try to create it.
The survey adopted by the Management-Labour Conference stressed the essentiality of maintaining public confidence in the ability of our economy to continue expanding. That is advice which is addressed to all of us as well as to others outside the House. Without confidence in ourselves, we can never achieve much.
The main purpose of national endeavour now is to get the Irish economy organised in all its sections to meet the impact of freer trade and to maintain the impetus of economic expansion in the new circumstances. That certainly will be the main pre-occupation of the Government during the Recess.
I mentioned that we have a heavy programme of legislation lined up for the Dáil Winter Session. Some unusually large and important measures for consideration by Deputies are included in that programme. As there are still Estimates to be debated, we are likely to have a fairly busy time. I do not think any of us will object to that.
The prospect of hard work is not likely to discourage us. Indeed, the satisfaction we get from participation in public work derives from the sense of achievement which we have as progress is made and as work programmes are fulfilled. I wish to give all Deputies on all sides of the House the opportunity of experiencing that satisfaction in full.
