asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will consider introducing legislation or regulations to standardise the household electric plug and socket; and if he will make a general statement on the present situation.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Standardising of Electrical Fittings.
54.
The Institute for Industrial Research and Standards are examining the question of the necessity for compulsory safety standards for household electric plugs and sockets. I will consider what action I should take when I receive their report.
It is not just safety standards I am concerned about. It is the vast variety of plugs and sockets installed from house to house. Each time the electrician comes there is, apparently, a new design. This is causing expense and difficulty to many householders. I understand that in England they have recently standardised the common household plug so that every manufacturer is making identical plugs. Will the Minister examine the possibility of doing something similar here?
I should like to say that I agree entirely with the Deputy as to the undesirability of varying standards and sizes in plugs and sockets but the matter is not quite as simple as it may appear. It seems to me that, ultimately, any worthwhile standardisation in this field requires to be done on an international level, if it is to be effective. I have urged our people who are concerned with this matter to see to what extent we can achieve some kind of agreement on a standardisation procedure in this and certain other fields. I should tell the Deputy that there has been a standard laid down by the Institute, but not a compulsory one, prior to this and, frankly, it has not operated very effectively. The one to which I was referring in the reply to the Deputy's question was a compulsory standard in regard to safety.
Having regard to what the Minister said about standards, could he set about ascertaining how they came to do this in England? They do not have to have regard to what is happening internationally.
Is it not a fact that there is standardisation in the Common Market?
It is aimed at.
They are working toward it.
Yes.
Has the Minister in his own experience not been afflicted with the experience of buying an appliance, bringing it home, flourishing it before his wife and then trying to plug it in, only to find that it will not fit? Then the electrician is called and he says he has not got a socket that fits the plug or he has not got a plug that fits the socket and finally the lamp is left standing there until a proper plug can be obtained. Can we not do something about that?
I agree that there is a problem but our own home market is not large enough to justify the expense that would be involved for the manufacturers in adhering to one standard only and not to other standards. This is why I say that I think the practical approach is to get agreement on an international scheme, however wide we can get it, and to try to make it an economic proposition for the manufacturers.
Question No. 55.
Surely the Minister is not suggesting that we do an international trade in this commodity? I suggest that he ask the Minister for External Affairs to find out what is going on internationally about this matter.
All I am anxious about is that the Minister will give an undertaking to have the matter examined fully with a view to bringing about the adoption of standards which apply in England or to see whether it would be viable to adopt our own standards.
I will give the Deputy that undertaking. I should also like to tell Deputy Mullen that we know a good deal about what is going on in other countries. The Deputy seems to think that the problem has been solved——
The Minister has more opportunities than I have to find out.
The Deputy tried to tell us that the problem has been solved.
Question No. 55, to the Minister for Health.
I did not.
The Deputy is talking through his hat.