asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if, in view of his recent statement at the setting up of the Council of Industrial Design, he will make a statement regarding the contribution that the Kilkenny Design Workshop has made in this field.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Council of Industrial Design.
14.
Statutory responsibility for the raising of design standards in Irish industry rests with Córas Tráchtala. This responsibility is discharged through the operations of its subsidiary, Kilkenny Design Workshops, and of its own design section, whose main objective is to develop an understanding in Ireland of the role of design in industry. As I indicated at its inaugural meeting, the reason for establishing the Council of Industrial Design is that a positive step must be taken in the direction of meeting the clear need for a national design policy. The starting point for the council, and consequently its immediate purpose, is to survey the whole field of industrial design and to make recommendations to me on action which should be taken in this area.
Will the Minister say that Kilkenny Design Workshop has done a good job?
In certain areas it has done a very good job indeed, and in certain other areas it has fallen a little short of the expectations that might reasonably have reposed in it; but, by and large, I am pleased with Kilkenny Design Workshop.
Would the Minister say in what areas he is pleased with Kilkenny Design Workshop and in what areas Kilkenny Design Workshop has fallen short of what he had hoped?
The area does not relate specifically to the Kilkenny Design Workshop itself but to the amount of spin-off into use by Irish manufacturers of designs originating there. It is the difficulty of transferring what originated in Kilkenny into normal industrial use. I am a little disappointed that has not happened to a greater extent.
Surely this is not a shortcoming on the part of the Design Centre itself but rather on the part of industry for failing to take up the designs produced by Kilkenny.
Would the Minister agree that some industries have in fact been saved as a result of the efforts put in by Kilkenny Design Workshop?
He would.