I move:—
That Seanad Eireann hereby approves of Control of Imports (Quota No. 13) (Amendment) Order, 1949.
Control of Imports (Quota No. 13) (Amendment) Order, 1949—Motion of Approval.
On the moving of this motion, I, and I feel quite confident, other members of the House would like to have some indication of what this motion conveys or what it proposes to do. This House has already set up a Committee and that Committee has made a recommendation which, as far as the Government and this Department are concerned, seems to have been completely ignored. We have just asked that in putting forward——
Mr. Hayes
Is the Senator exhausting his right to speak on this motion now? The Parliamentary Secretary was going to explain it, I understand.
I may as well deal with the point Senator Hawkins raises first. As I said in reply to the Supplies and Services Bill, there is a Committee of the Seanad which examined certain Statutory Rules and Regulations and then made the recommendation that in future all Orders should have some descriptive title or information which would enable members of the Seanad and the public to know what the Order contained. I understand that that recommendation has not been adopted by the Seanad yet and consequently it is only a recommendation. In addition the Order which is being moved at the moment is an amendment and the original Order would require to have this description or information as to what it dealt with. This is an amendment of a parent Order, but I should like to assure Senators that if this recommendation is adopted—and I suppose it would be necessary to have some similar recommendation approved by the Dáil—as far as I have any responsibility I will endeavour to have the wishes of the Committee carried into effect. I think it would be a desirable practice and would simplify the work of Senators as well as of the public. This Control of Imports Order relating to the importation of woollen and worsted piece goods, is required by Section 4 (2) of the Control of Imports Act, 1934.
The Control of Imports (Quota No. 13) Order prohibited the importation, except under licence, of piece goods made wholly or partly of wool, which weighed 7 ozs. or more per square yard and were of a value of more than 4/- per square yard. The operation of this quota was suspended during the war and it was reimposed on 1st March, 1948.
Notwithstanding the reimposition of this quantitative control of imports of woollen fabrics, importations continued at a high level. In the year 1948, 6,500,000 square yards of woollen fabrics were imported, and in the first six months of 1949 importations reached 3,500,000 square yards. The amount of the import quota was fixed at the rate of 3,000,000 square yards annually, and it was clear that very heavy importations were taking place by reason of the "weight" and "price" exemptions in the quota definition.
Representations were made by both the woollen manufacturers and the trade unions that these excessive importations were placing the Irish woollen industry in a critical position, and constituted a threat of serious unemployment in the industry. In fact, one mill had already closed, and there was short time working in several others. Furthermore, the "price" exemption in the quota Order left the Irish market open to the free importation of "frustrated exports" which had been intended for other markets.
The quota was amended from 28th June, 1949, by the deletion of the price limitation in the quota, and by a reduction of the weight exemption from 7 ozs. to 4½ ozs. per square yard.
The effect of the amendment has not been reflected in the import statistics to the end of September. In that period of nine months, importations were more than 5,000,000 square yards, slightly higher than the corresponding period last year. This is partly due to the fact that facilities have been given to importers to bring in fabrics for which they had made commitments before the amendment, so that trade, in particular the clothing industries, would not be unduly disturbed. The amendment to the quota Order has, however, proved beneficial to the woollen industry. The mills, under the assistance of this additional protection, have expanded into production of lines, such as light-weight dress fabric, a field in which heretofore they had made little or no effort because the market was open to free imports. Several mills are also in production of wool gaberdine fabric both for the raincoat and women's costume trade.
The full benefits of the extra protection given by the amendment to the quota Order will not be fully reaped for some time. Additional production capacity is being installed, and there will be adequate competition internally to assure reasonable prices and qualities to the public. The number employed by the industry is between 4,000 and 5,000 and, with the additional production, it is likely that employment will be increased.
I would like to say that it was news to me to hear from the Parliamentary Secretary that it was necessary that this House should accept or approve a recommendation by the particular Committee set up, as I had an idea that, once the Committee directed the attention of the various Departments of the Government to what they considered a very undesirable approach, the matter would be attended to. We have before us to-night a motion by Senator Hayes that the House approves of Control of Imports (Quota No. 13) (Amendment) Order, 1949. No member of this House, not even the most intelligent member, knew what this meant before we were told by the Parliamentary Secretary, who got up to give an explanation of the purpose of the Order. The Committee I have referred to, which was set up by this House, has gone into these matters and has made recommendations. I think it is reasonable to ask that some more explicit description of the nature of the Order we are asked to approve should be given with the title of it. No ordinary manufacturer, no ordinary businessman, on reading this title, "Control of Imports (Quota No. 13) (Amendment) Order, 1949", could connect it with such an important industry as the Parliamentary Secretary has connected it to-night.
I would suggest, not only to the Parliamentary Secretary but to his colleagues of the Government, that in future when issuing these Orders there should be some indication given not only to members of the House but to the public in general as to the subject matter to which the Order relates.
The Parliamentary Secretary has said enough to indicate to us that there are many people concerned by the operation of this Order throughout the length and breadth of this country. Yet, on the Order Paper of Seanad Eireann we have a simple statement, "Control of Imports (Quota No. 13) (Amendment) Order, 1940".
Personally, I am quite conversant with what the Order means, but how can the ordinary members of the public who have not access to the Oireachtas records know what it means? I have had a short experience in one of the remote counties of the country where the commodities concerned are manufactured, and I have good reason to know the effect of the laxity or inexperience of some of the people who now control the destinies of this country on the lives of those people. We are called on to pass this apparently unassuming Order here to-night and, if we are going to do it, I hope we will improve the lot of the people I have referred to.
I would like, in conclusion, to ask the Parliamentary Secretary to ensure, so far as he can, that every Department of the Government will endeavour in the future to make itself clear when it issues such Orders. The House has set up a Committee and, as I said at the outset, I am astonished to hear that, because the House has not accepted its recommendations, the recommendations are not binding.
I would like to add my view to that of Senator Hawkins and others who have spoken on this question of clarifying the Orders put before us. We have been faced in the House with a whole series of Orders of various numbers and dates. If the ordinary man in the State wants to know what a particular Order means, he looks it up and finds that he is referred back to some previous Order or statute, more often than not of the order of 1851, or something of that sort. Every member of this House would welcome a better and fuller description of the Orders placed before us for approval. If this Order had been described on the Order Paper as dealing with worsted or woollen goods, members of the Seanad and members of the public interested in that class of trade would take an interest in it.
I am not going to raise the question of inferior petrol, as I did last night, but if there were an Order relating to petrol, then the word should be mentioned, so as to enable the public concerned to express their views to their representatives and have them put forward in the House.
I agree with Senators Hawkins and Bigger, but I think that it is only right that this Committee should convince its colleagues of the wisdom of its recommendations. However, in so far as it is possible to do so, in Orders in future I shall endeavour to ensure that there will be some descriptive title on them, but, even with a descriptive title, Senators would often be obliged to go back to the parent Order. It is true, as Senator Professor Bigger has pointed out, that such Orders deal only with a particular year, but I agree with him that further description is desirable and, if Senators so desire it, I will recommend that every effort should be made to carry it into effect.
I was beginning to wonder what exactly are the powers and functions of this Committee. I think it is rather a tragedy that Senator Duffy is not with us to deal with it because when his proposal was accepted by the House he talked long and loudly enough about it.
Long, but not so loud.
Senator Duffy told us of the rights of Parliament and of the need to ensure that limitations would not be put on them. It appears to me that he did good service when he put down the original motion.
He has left the House since.
I had thought that the body set up would have statutory powers. If the House accepts the recommendation of the Committee, it is not good enough for a Minister or a Parliamentary Secretary to come along here and say "we will give it every consideration", but that is the way that the Parliamentary Secretary has conveyed his answer to me. I am afraid that Senator Duffy wasted a lot of time and effort and that very little has come of it. If this Order is a sample of their powers and functions, they should not bother to meet at all.
The Committee that has been referred to made certain recommendations to the House. The House did not adopt them, but I think that the House would be prepared to adopt many of them. From the point of view of constitutional rights, however, they should not be binding on a Minister. We have no power by Resolution of this House to compel a Minister to take any particular action or to refrain from any particular action, except in certain cases where it is so provided under the Statute. This particular Committee to which Senators have referred has no statutory authority. It was an ordinary Committee of this House. The Parliamentary Secretary's attitude is a reasonable one, and is the one taken up by Ministers of this Government, and of the previous Government, and, I think, every Government. That is to say, if when referring to the form of these Orders, the Seanad itself desires certain things to be done, then, if it is practicable, it will be done. Of course, the Parliamentary Secretary has pointed out that even if you headed this particular amending Order "woollen goods", or something of that kind, the only advantage would be that people interested in that kind of thing would know that the Order was concerned with woollen goods, but they would still have to go back to the other Orders.
I am afraid there is no way by which each Order can be made complete on its face. I wish there were, but I really think there is no such method available. All you can do is to put a title on the Order to indicate to particular Senators, or particular Deputies of the Dáil, what the thing is about. As Senator Hawkins says, workers were affected by this, but it has been explained that the position of workers in the woollen industry was improved by this particular Order, not the reverse. I think, perhaps, we could arrange for the future to use the influence we have on the Government, so that when a statutory instrument is tabled the title will be put on it to show what particular type of goods are concerned. If we did that it would be a good day's work, but I am afraid we have no actual constitutional powers to compel our desires to be effected.
All we want is an indication. I am very much interested in the paper trade and in the British ban on publications. I think we should have particular titles to indicate, for instance, that it was woollen and worsted trades that were affected. We should know where we are.
Question put and agreed to.
The Seanad adjourned at 5.45 p.m.,sine die.