On the last day I was replying in detail to various points raised by Deputies. Deputy Mervyn Taylor made a point in relation to energy costs in his reference to Clondalkin Paper Mills and to the general question of energy costs as this affects particular industries. Hydrocarbon tax has been reduced by the Government from 7p a gallon to 4½p a gallon and that has made some contribution towards industry and energy costs in this area. Electricity costs are fairly high and these necessarily reflect production costs because we import oil. In reviewing our general industrial strategy, the Government will have to look at energy costs to industry. That point was raised and is a matter worthy of very detailed examination.
Deputy O'Malley made a number of very severe strictures on the individual contributions of companies on the question of State assistance. He was critical of the extent to which individual managers had managed to stave off closures, liquidations and receiverships. He was also critical of the calibre of management and of marketing. I share the severity with which his comments were made in that regard. He made a very valid point. In relation to Fóir Teoranta, Deputy O'Malley made an outstanding contribution during his term in office to this work. He was not a man who went in for soft options in terms of industrial rescue efforts and was not beyond telling companies the truth when that was needed. He raised the question of Fóir Teoranta being left short of necessary resources in 1982. I assure him and other Deputies that there will be no shortage whatever of basic funds for their operations during the next 12 months. That goes without saying. Money will be made available and that being made available by this Bill will be of considerable assistance to the industrial sector.
Participation by the banks in financing Fóir Teoranta's operations was suggested in the report of the Joint Committee. This was a sensible operation. I was a member of that committee and we formulated that approach when we made our report to the House. This has been taken up by the Department of Finance with the company and will prove helpful in the future. I do not have any developments on which to formally report but the proposition was a worthy one and was a unanimous recommendation by all members.
Deputy Burke raised the question of sectoral development committees. There is such a committee in existence. It was a useful innovation arising out of the national understanding. I hope it will continue in existence. It has been warmly supported by the trade union movement and is generally seen as an advance in industrial development. Fóir Teoranta are represented on it and on other consultative committees which have been established for marketing, the electronics industry, the building and construction industry and the beef industry. These are the areas where sectoral work is being done at present with the full support of the Government.
Deputy Fitzgerald raised the question of responsible Ministers. They are the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Industry and Energy. There was an area of emphasis raised by Deputy Colley. In 1975 when we were debating a similar Bill he stressed the importance of management expertise. Fóir Teoranta will provide assistance at managerial level where necessary. We debated this at length with senior executives of Fóir Teoranta in the Joint Committee. I recall our report discussing the desirable linkage between Fóir Teoranta and the IMI to ensure that the lessons to be learned are passed on. We made a recommendation in that regard. It is in hands at present. If they need additional management specialists Fóir Teoranta should receive them.
There were a number of questions I expected Deputies to raise. When I was a member of the Joint Committee I raised the fact that there was no trade union representative on the board. That is a singular omission. When the Committee asked what the history of trade union representation was in that regad Fóir Teoranta said they had a trade union representative on the board in the past and found his input very helpful. When one gets down to talking about cases such as that of the Clondalkin Paper Mills it would have been singularly helpful if they had a trade union representative on the board.
