asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will give (a) particulars of the extent of the import from Roumania over the past twelve months of matches in boxes which bear the inscription Déanta sa Rumáin, and (b) details of the total value of such imports; and if any enquiries have been made to ascertain whether the said matches were manufactured under trade union conditions.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Imports of Roumanian Matches.
3.
Information on the lines of (a) and (b) of the question is not available.
During the 12 months ended 31st August, 1964, 12,000 gross boxes of matches of a total value of £1,520 were imported from Roumania.
The answer to the last part of the question is in the negative.
Is the Minister aware that there is a practice amongst some shopkeepers of giving preference to these matches over Irish-produced matches? If somebody does not ask for Irish-produced matches, he is given these Communist-produced matches instead——
Are they all red matches?
——and will he take steps to have this practice discouraged?
I would have thought that in present circumstances it would scarcely be necessary to remind anybody of the necessity for pushing the sale of all Irish goods.
It is, in some cases, because if a person does not stipulate Irish matches, he gets these Roumanian matches. I am aware of several cases of this.