I quite agree, but here is one instance in which tyres manufactured by Messrs. Dunlop of Cork of as good a standard, if not beyond the standards, as any tyres that can come into the country have come into difficulties. May I ask the Minister for Industry and Commerce what is really wrong? Surely Messrs. Dunlop of Cork are able to manufacture, and are manufacturing, sufficient tyres to meet the home market in this country, or is it the situation that our Irish people here are buying imported tyres in preference to the tyres manufactured here in Ireland by Messrs. Dunlop of Cork? I find it very hard to believe that this takes us back again to what we were speaking about the other night when we were dealing with the Shannon industries and other industries, that you have motorists, farmers using tractors, the owners of lorries and other vehicles who must be using imported tyres on their vehicles.
Would it not be a step in the right direction, in order to cut down the import of tyres, and in order to ensure that there will be a continuous manufacture of tyres by Messrs. Dunlop, if efforts were made to initiate a campaign, as has been done in the case of our Irish industries, for the use on all vehicles of tyres manufactured within the country? Surely if we have an industry manufacturing an excellent article, we should buy that article. I venture to say that if it goes to a panel of experts, they will express the opinion that the tyres manufactured by Messrs. Dunlop of Cork are of a very high quality and that they are equal in quality and standard to any tyres that can be imported. Therefore, when we have an excellent product made by our own workers in Cork city, by a firm who, in my opinion, have a very efficient industry, who have put a good article on the market, I cannot understand the mentality of the Irish consumers, if we can describe them as consumers, the purchasers of tyres, who will buy imported tyres in preference to a superior and high quality tyre made available to them by Messrs. Dunlop of Cork.
Perhaps the Minister will give us, as Deputy Larkin rightly asked him, some further helpful statistics. This, in my opinion, is a very important matter. Has the Minister any information at his disposal in regard to the home market for tyres, about whether imported tyres are purchased by the Irish public in preference to tyres manufactured by Messrs. Dunlop of Cork? If it is the case that the purchasers of tyres in Ireland, whether they be for tractors, lorries, motor cars or other vehicles, are purchasing the imported article in preference to the home produced tyre, I say it is a disgrace and a shame on them that they do not realise their responsibility to Irish industry and the men employed in making tyres in this country. Those men will be placed on the unemployed list if the people in Ireland are purchasing imported tyres in preference to the Irish produced tyres.
This is a very serious matter. It is a matter which affects Messrs. Dunlop today but what other Irish industry will it affect tomorrow? When Messrs. Dunlop of Cork have felt this slight breeze—it can be described as a very slight breeze—of free trade, when this highly organised and highly efficient concern have had to suffer the serious effects of imported tyres, may the Lord help those industries which are not prepared as Messrs. Dunlop.
I feel there was a duty on the Government, not today, not last year but many years ago to do something about this. We heard the former Minister for Industry and Commerce, the former Taoiseach, Deputy Lemass, saying that years ago he had been keying up industry to meet competition from outside, that he had been keying up industry for free trade, that he was convinced that all our Irish industries could meet any competition which could come from outside. Here we have one of the most efficient and one of the most highly geared industries which felt the slight breeze of free trade and this has meant the loss of jobs to workers in Cork city. I am concerned with the employment of those workers equally as much as Deputy Barrett, who has the honour to represent them.
The men employed in this industry are specialists in tyre production; they have received a considerable training and they have a special skill for the manufacture of tyres. When those men are thrown out of employment, it means there is no other suitable work available for them. This is a very serious matter. It is a very serious matter for their wives; it is a very serious matter for their children; and it is a very serious matter for the people of Cork. The very short debate which we have had in this House for the past few hours regarding this matter gives representatives representing constituencies other than Cork city food for thought. This may have a serious effect on other Irish industries. That is why I say it is a very serious matter. It is now within 13 months that Messrs. Dunlop have been asked to re-organise and to make an effort to meet and compete against imports of foreign tyres into this country. I am afraid that one of the first steps we must take is to appeal to the patriotic sense of our people to support our own industries, to support our own workers, in the knowledge that by buying Irish they are keeping their own people in employment in their own cities. I have always been a believer in that and I feel the Minister shares my views. The more Irish goods we buy the more Irish people we keep in employment. It is far better for us to buy Irish tyres manufactured in Cork than to buy tyres manufactured by Irish people in parts of Great Britain; it provides work at home and that is what we want.
The purpose of establishing industry in the first instance is to provide industries and employment for our own people. In so far as Dunlops are concerned, I know of no other industry in this country that is so efficiently managed, so highly organised, who are such good employers or who are so considerate of their workers. It must have caused the management of Dunlops very serious concern when they had to dispense with the services of many of those who were trained and skilled in the manufacture of tyres in the Irish industry. What more can Dunlops do for the next 12 months to help them meet the challenge which will be repeated? That is a question I should like the Minister to answer. Has he told Dunlops what they will do in 12 months time or are the workers employed by the industry in Cork just living on a month to month basis?
At the end of 12 months—13 months to be accurate—they will again be faced with the position of tyre imports. I should like to know what more the industry can do. What more is expected of them? As this is an unusual situation brought about by a trade agreement to which the Government was a party, what practical steps will the Government take and what financial assistance, if any, guidance or advice will the Government give in order to help Dunlops meet the situation that will have to be met in 12 to 18 months time?
This is a serious matter and I hope the Minister realises it. I am afraid he is living in cloud cuckoo land if he thinks we are prepared for free trade. I do not think we are. Here is an example of one of the most highly-organised industries in the country. Is the Minister satisfied that a duty of £3 per tyre is sufficient? What results does the Minister expect to come from it? Does he feel that this duty will result in a cutting down in the import of tyres as against the purchase of Irish-manufactured tyres?
I cannot understand the mentality of Irishmen or Irishwomen in industry, or in any sphere of activity, who when they require the products of industry do not first seek to purchase the Irish product. After so many years of Irish industry we are still suffering from an inferiority complex with regard to what we can produce. Because an article is made in Ireland many people still say that it cannot be any good and that they prefer to buy the imported article. I wonder is that said about tyres. I have never in a quarter of a century used any tyre except a Dunlop tyre and I have never used a car except a Ford. The purchase of our own goods in our own country keeps our people in employment. I feel strongly on this and I assure the Minister, with regard to the difficulties he is now meeting in relation to Dunlops of Cork, that he has no guarantee that he will not be confronted with the same situation in other industries in the future.
Is the Minister satisfied and convinced that by the end of twelve months Dunlops will be sufficiently organised? I doubt that they can be organised to a higher degree than they are. What help will the Government give them to meet this new situation, created by the Government, mark you, and I emphasise that? The Minister must accept responsibility. It is his job to protect Irish industry. It is his job to see that there is no redundancy, no unemployment, and to see that every effort will be made to safeguard workers and protect the children and the wives of all those engaged in Irish industry who find themselves in uncertainty and doubt. They cannot plan for the future.
You have employers like Dunlops probing in the dark and they will not know where to start when they are deluged with a flood of imports in 12 months time. This is a matter to which the House should give the gravest consideration.
I am glad the Minister has come to the House having taken steps helpful to Dunlops of Cork, a firm which I believe is worthy of help, co-operation and support. They are one of the few Irish firms of international reputation of which we can be very proud. We are proud of the workers who have been trained in Dunlops and of those who have been engaged in the firm in Cork. They have in my opinion excelled themselves in efficiency and in the skills in which they are now trained, skills which will be of little use to them in any other branch of Irish Industry.
Can the Minister assure the House that at the end of 13 months we will not again be in the same position in Cork and that the firm of Dunlops can look forward to a future in which they will not be faced with unfair competition from outside, competition that will come from abroad under conditions of free trade? I doubt if our industrialists are geared to meet it.
We have had in the past a lot of talk. An ounce of action is worth a ton of talk and there has not been enough action to prepare Dunlops for the consequences of a flood of tyres into this country. The competition is unfair and could not properly be met by them. I hope the steps now being taken by the Minister will make re-employment possible for all the workers in Cork city who through no fault of Dunlops have been thrown out of employment, and that steps will be taken by the Government to see that this situation will not again arise.
If the Minister sees there is a danger of a recurrence of this situation within the next 13 months, when this Order expires, will he keep in touch with the British Board of Trade? His job is, as leader of Irish industry, to protect Irish industry, to protect employment and to protect families and homes depending on Irish industry. We should not allow the British, or any other outsiders, to flood our country with imports. We should take the necessary steps to see that our workers and our industries are protected. What plans has the Minister for those workers and their future? The workers want to know about the plans. They want to know what the Minister is doing to ensure that the workers of Dunlop and of other undertakings affected by the slight breeze of free trade will not find themselves out of jobs.
A word of thanks is due to the Minister for what he has done in this situation. It called for action. I have knowledge of it because while in Cork I spoke to those people and I should like to put on record my appreciation —I feel sure this applies to the Minister also—of the work undertaken by Deputy Barrett particularly, and by the other Cork Deputies. This has been of great concern to all the workers in Cork, to their wives and their families. I should like the Minister to tell the House what he has in mind if and when this arises again at the end of 13 months.