asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if, in terms of his reply to a question of 25th November, 1976, he will furnish information in respect of (i) motor vehicles (ii) textiles (iii) clothing (iv) footwear (v) furniture (vi) household utensils (vii) hosiery and (viii) knitwear.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Import Allocations.
19.
Of the goods referred to by the Deputy, furniture and household utensils are not subject to quantitative restrictions; restrictions on the importation of certain footwear originating in Czechoslovakia and Taiwan were recently imposed but imports, other than goods in transit, will not be permitted for the balance of 1976.
As regards the remaining goods, I propose, with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, to circulate with the Official Report a statement giving the available information.
Following is the statement:
IMPORT allocations in respect of non-community countries during 1976 to date.
|
State Trading Countries |
Non-State Trading Countries |
|
|
Yarns, clothing and made-up textiles (Quota No. 51) |
£17,300 |
£65,000 |
|
Textile Piece Goods (Quota No. 52) |
4,200,000 sq. yds. |
17,750,000 sq. yds. |
|
Community Quotas on yarns, clothing and textiles originating in Taiwan. |
Yarns |
.530 metric tons |
|
textile piece goods |
111.722 metric tons |
|
|
certain articles of clothing |
5,730 articles |
|
|
other articles of clothing (by weight) |
.5 metric tons |
|
|
Number of vehicles |
||
|
Motor Vehicles |
3429* |
*Period 1st January, 1976 to 30th September, 1976.
In the absence of the details and in view of the fact that the Parliamentary Secretary refused to give me the detailed information I sought in the previous question will he agree that this is a device used to permit the importation of foreign manufactured goods at a time when we are exhorting our people to buy Irish made products? Would the Minister not have these adjusted in cases where there are ample supplies of home manufactured goods available?
The Deputy is probably aware that in the case of most of these quotas they are aligned in practice to EEC requirements in regard to trade with third countries. We are not a free agent in the matter of setting quotas in relation to these goods. As regards the Deputy not getting the information he is seeking, that information is extremely detailed because of the separate quotas in respect of each trading country in respect of each item of produce imported. The information sought by the Deputy would be extremely detailed. If he would like information in regard to a particular product from a particular country I can arrange to supply it to him, but it would probably be better that we should have a discussion on the matter so that I would know exactly what he wants.
I cannot entirely accept the Parliamentary Secretary's explanation. These quotas originally came into effect when the home market was unable adequately to supply particular products and a quantum restriction was imposed on imports. This situation no longer obtains, and at a time when it is so necessary to encourage Irish manufacture would the Parliamentary Secretary have a serious look at the whole matter of imports under quota? He is well aware that this is a bonanza in some cases for the importers. I should have liked to get specific information in regard to assembled motor cars which come in here in some cases a few thousand pounds cheaper than those assembled here and are sold at the same price as cars assembled here.