Vol. 302 No. 6
asked the Minister for Industry, Commerce and Energy if he will furnish details of the "Buy Irish" campaign which is now proposed; how it is calculated that this campaign should produce an extra 10,000 jobs; and in what respects this campaign will differ from earlier "Buy Irish" campaigns.
18.
asked the Minister for Industry, Commerce and Energy the details of the proposed "Buy Irish" campaign which would switch 3p in the £ from imports to home products within three years and would yield 10,000 extra jobs.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle I propose to take questions numbers 17 and 18 together.
I am not yet in a position to provide the information sought by the Deputies. However, final details of the proposed campaign are being worked out and I will be making an announcement in the near future. I might add that I am not too enamoured of the term "Buy Irish". Any effort to replace imports with Irish-made products requires not only a "Buy Irish" approach but also requires that people "sell Irish", "think Irish", and "act Irish".
Will the Minister explain how it is that five months have elapsed since his accession to office and these details are not yet forthcoming, notwithstanding that this "Buy Irish" or "sell Irish" campaign was one of the principal planks of his election platform? What is the reason for this five months' delay in planning this campaign which was one of the main planks of the Minister's election platform?
Perhaps the Deputy will tell us why there was a four-and-a-half-year delay in implementing any of the 14 points of the 14-point plan?
The only "Buy Irish" campaign being conducted at the moment is the "guaranteed Irish" one intiated by the Minister's predecessor. Where is the one which will produce the 10,000 jobs?
It will be announced shortly. There are a great many matters that I must deal with and a great many things in the manifesto and elsewhere which will have to be implemented over a period of years. There is no question of everything in the manifesto being implemented in a period of five months. It must be disappointing to the Deputy that so much of it was implemented within five months.
Will the Minister tell us how it is that this "Buy Irish" campaign which was a principal part of his platform, which was one of the things which would fight against inflation and unemployment which he and all his colleagues tell us are central to our economic future, has succeeded in missing the Christmas selling period?
The campaign will be announced shortly.
How has the Minister succeeded in doing that? The Christmas selling period was looming up and could have been caught had the Minister worked fast enough. This is just another piece of con work.
Will the Minister announce the details of his plan to disseminate the price increases through the national television and newspaper network at the same time, as was also promised?
That is a separate question.
As far as I can see not alone is the Minister not going to do it but he has hidden price increases.
Question No. 19.
