Vol. 219 No. 5
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is aware of the great difficulties being experienced by hardware merchants in obtaining supplies of domestic glassware from Irish manufacturers; and that the public are now unable to purchase Irish made glasses for domestic needs; if he will take steps to remedy the situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
44.
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is aware that the hardware trade has been obliged, by reason of the non-availability of Irish made domestic glassware, to import domestic glassware from abroad; and if in view of the exhortations to purchase Irish goods steps will be taken to have adequate supplies of Irishmade glassware made available immediately to the hardware trade in ample time for the Christmas shopping season.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 43 and 44 together.
The answer to the first part of each question is in the negative. I understand that home production of domestic glassware has been substantially increased and should be adequate to meet all normal demands.
Is the Minister aware that the glass manufacturers recently informed the hardware trade that this year they are manufacturing only 80 per cent of the domestic glassware which they manufactured last year? Is he further aware that this glassware has gone to the breweries and not to the hardware trade and that it is, therefore, impossible to get any Irish manufactured domestic glassware in Dublin at the present time? Will he re-examine the source of his information?
The source of my information is the manufacturers and I understand from them that they have adequate supplies to meet trade demands. I shall make inquiries again if the Deputy has firm information.
Has not the Minister on file in his Department information on representations made by the hardware trade which states that they have been obliged to import foreign glassware and pay duty on it because the glass manufacturers here were unable to supply their demands?
Arising out of some application, I did make inquiries from the manufacturers and got the information that they could supply——
They cannot, and why can they not? For several months they have been asked to do it and they are not doing it and consequently the hardware merchants are obliged to import.
I am not disinclined to follow it up if I find these allegations to be on firm grounds.
In Cork and Kerry, domestic glass cannot be procured at all by any hardware merchant.
That is not the information supplied to me.
Will the Minister make direct inquiries from the hardware trade and not rely on the manufacturers alone? That is the simple way of checking the story.
