With this Bill, the motion in the name of Senator McGuire will be taken. There will be the one discussion on the two matters.
Imposition of Duties (Confirmation of Orders) Bill, 1960 (Certified Money Bill) — Second and Subsequent Stages.
Question proposed: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."
An Leas-Chathaoirleach
Orders made by the Government under the Imposition of Duties Act, 1957, must be confirmed by the Oireachtas in the calendar year following that in which they are made. The purpose of this Bill is to confirm 28 Orders made under the Act during the year 1959.
The duties imposed by nine of these Orders afford protection to new industries. Nine others protect the manufacture of additional lines which were undertaken by existing concerns. A further seven Orders amended existing duties, where experience had shown that these duties were not adequate because of increasingly severe competition from imports. Two further Orders were made because the existing duties were being evaded.
The remaining Order is an exemption Order which removes from the duty of metal containers, articles used in connection with the brewing industry.
An explanatory memorandum on the Bill has been circulated to Senators. I shall, of course, be willing to give any further information or answer any questions which Senators wish to ask about the Orders.
The motion, in the name of Senator McGuire, calls on me to make a statement in connection with the imposition of duty on medicinal tablets. The following is the statement:
The recent imposition of a duty on medicinal tablets is not to conflict with the general policy of the Government in regard to tariffs. As indicated in Paragraph 99 of the Programme for Economic Expansion, it will continue to be the policy of the Government to grant protection for worth-while industries. The industry to which the duty under discussion relates is a worth-while industry; the firm chiefly concerned has, for several years, been producing products which comply in every respect with the requirements laid down in the British Pharmacopoeia and the British Pharmaceutical Codex and they have undertaken that the prices of their products here will correspond with the prices of similar tablets in Great Britain.
The Irish industry was unable, because of the long established contacts of external manufacturers on the Irish market, to obtain a reasonable share of the pharmaceutical trade and the primary object of the duty is to assist the Irish industry in overcoming this disability.
There was initially, considerable misunderstanding in various quarters about the effect of the duty on the prices of tablets. In so far as tablets are made here, their prices correspond and I hope, will continue to correspond with British home prices. In so far as requirements cannot be met by home manufactured tablets, licences are and will continue to be available for the importation of tablets. There are no grounds, therefore, for the suggestions made that the effect of the duty will be to bring about a general increase in the price of medicinal tablets.
I should like, formally, to move the motion in the name of Senator McGuire. It was put down by Senator McGuire for the purpose of getting a statement from the Minister. We have now got that statement. I think the motion should be moved formally so that it may be taken off the Order Paper.
An Leas-Chathaoirleach
It may be moved after we dispose of the Bill.
Question put and agreed to.
Bill considered in Committee.
Sections 1 and 2 agreed to.
Schedule agreed to.
Title agreed to.
Bill reported without recommendation.
Bill received for final consideration, and ordered to be returned to the Dáil.