The purpose of the Bill is to provide for a new method of controlling the importation of the limited quantity of sugar that in future it may be necessary to import, in each year, to supplement the production at the factories of the Irish Sugar Manufacturing Company. At present the importation is regulated under the Control of Imports Act. From time to time, for stated periods, a quota of sugar is declared, and licences are issued to all registered sugar importers, to import the quantities of sugar stated in these licences, to the aggregate of the quantity which is called the fixed quota. That method of importation has proved unsatisfactory from the point of view of the Department of Industry and Commerce, and the sugar importers, and it is necessary, we think, to change it. One of the reasons why it is unsatisfactory is because it necessitates a periodic fixing of quotas of such amount that all registered sugar importers can participate in it. But that may not always be necessary or desirable. It is true that in this year over a limited period it will be necessary to import some 15,000 or 16,000 tons of sugar. But for the greater part of the year, and in all future years, the quantity of sugar which will be imported will be very small, and will, in fact, consist, in the main, of a special class of sugar required by the manufacturers of certain products. If, at the present time, during which the supplies of Irish produced sugar are available, it was considered necessary to allow a single manufacturer, or a couple of manufacturers of some product to import a limited quantity of a special class of sugar, it would be necessary to fix a quota order, so that each of the ordinary importers, possessing between them sugar import licences, should be able to import some of that sugar, so that the particular importer, whom it was desirable to facilitate, should get the quantity he desires. That means that unnecessary importation would take place, upsetting, or delaying, the clearances of stocks of sugar held by the Irish Sugar Company and creating increased difficulty in the financing of these stocks.
The situation became difficult also from the point of view of the sugar importers, and, in fact, it was the Sugar Importers' Association that put forward the proposal that in their interests the sole licence to import sugar should be given to Comhlúcht Siúicre na h-Eireann from which concern the wholesale sugar merchants would purchase their supplies both in a period when home-produced sugar was available and when imported sugar was available. That will be a simpler method of administration and will ease the position of the Department of Industry and Commerce as well as meeting the difficulties of the sugar importers. That is, in fact, the sole purpose of the Bill.
That purpose could perhaps have been achieved by a voluntary arrangement whereby sugar importers would not apply for licences and in that way get over the difficulty. But as the law stands a licence to import sugar cannot be given to the sugar company and, consequently, legislation is necessary before that arrangement which is mutually desired could be effected.
There is a provision in the Bill which caused some comment in the Dáil, but which, I think, was misunderstood. It provides for the imposition of a fee in certain circumstances on licences issued to the sugar company. That was considered necessary, because it may happen that when sugar has to be imported there will be a slight difference between the price of imported sugar plus duty, and the price at which sugar is sold by the Irish Sugar Manufacturing Company. It is considered desirable that the sugar company should not make any profit on the importation or merchandising of the sugar imported. That slight difference in price which may exist from time to time will, therefore, be taken up by means of this fee for the benefit of the Exchequer. That difference would be too slight to affect the price. During last year, when licences were issued to sugar importers, when home sugar was not available, there was such a slight difference in price. Sugar importers got in respect of that sugar a profit larger than was normal. The price of imported sugar, which at present is in or around 7/- a cwt. free of duty, delivered in Dublin, would have to be reduced by 2/4 a cwt., which is very improbable, in any circumstances, before a farthing in the pound could be taken off the retail price. The difference, in any event, is only a matter of pence. It is not improbable, judging by recent events, that the price of imported sugar will go up, so that there will be no margin and the price of imported sugar may exceed the price of the Irish company's product, in which case no fee would be charged. The fee is only to deal with the circumstances that will exist when the Irish output is higher in price than imported sugar. That difference went last year to the sugar importers, and were it not for the device of imposing a fee upon the licence it would go in the circumstances of the future to the benefit of the sugar company. We think it should go, if anywhere, to the benefit of the Exchequer, but the amount in future years will be very small indeed. The deficiency in the production of sugar this year is larger than will exist in any future year and, in fact, it is contemplated that in future years the only quantities of sugar imported will be those small consignments of special classes of sugar required by individual manufacturers. There are certain classes of products for which beet sugar is not the most suitable and for which cane sugar is imported instead. The other provisions in the Bill are similar to those set out in the Control of Imports Act. They propose to confer on the Minister for Industry and Commerce the same powers as he has at present under the Control of Imports Act. In fact, the sole purpose of the measure is to enable the Minister to issue licences to the sugar company only, instead of to those firms and persons whose names are on the register of sugar importers, in order to facilitate administration.
