I move:
That Seanad Éireann calls for immediate and sustained backing for the efforts of the Government and the Irish Goods Council in promoting the sale of Irish goods.
I welcome the opportunity of addressing the House. In debating this issue we are supporting and adding our voice to a matter which, because of its very nature, is of basic and fundamental importance to our economic development. I welcome the opportunity too of recognising at this level the very significant contribution made by the body entrusted with the task of promoting the concept of buying guaranteed Irish. I compliment the chairman of the Irish Goods Council, Mr. Tom Hardiman, and the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Vivian Murray, on their success in the campaign to date. The dedication and enthusiasm they have displayed far exceeds the call of duty. I also welcome the Minister of State. If he pursues this portfolio with the same vigour and determination he displayed in his previous Ministerial position this section of the Department is in very capable hands.
I should like to express my thanks to the many voluntary organisations throughout the country who have, down through the years, supported the efforts of the Irish Goods Council in this important national matter. It is clearly an area of activity where all of us can share a common platform in the national interest. I do not wish to make this debate heavily laden with statistics. The cost to the country in terms of large scale imports is widely known. Its very serious effect on the economy is clearly on record. Perhaps the most telling record of all is reflected in the thousands of homes throughout the country where husbands and wives, sons and daughters, are unable to enjoy the basic right of securing a job and earning their livelihood in their own country. The creation of full employment has been the aim of successive governments, and this national priority has been restated on many occasions. When the Government embarked on a very deliberate policy of job creation, there can be no doubt about its initial success. It is, however disappointing to note that the very welcome trend has been reversed and that unemployment is again on the increase. I do not propose to analyse the many reasons for this undesirable trend, which is due to a number of varying economic circumstances.
One does not have to be an economist to understand that one of the most important factors in increasing and maintaining employment is the market for Irish produce. The most important and most economically favourable market for any country is the home market. In this context the debate is relevant, and I hope our deliberations will jolt the public mind and the public conscience into realising that we all have a very serious responsibility in this regard.
We are a developing economy and we spend thousands of pounds in exploring new markets abroad and we have had considerable success. We welcome the recently announced new markets which Coras Tráchtála have been successful in negotiating abroad. Our products are universally accepted as being goods of quality and value, particularly when they carry the guaranteed, easily recognisable, Irish symbol.
Does it make sense then that our success in export markets is being undermined at home by our failure to support the industries and to purchase the products which are manufactured in them? Many reasons have been put forward for this attitude. My own view is that it is due to a large extent to complacency and a lack of thought on the part of the customer and, in many cases, to the failure of the shop to stock and put on display the produce of our industries. I realise that in some cases there is a genuine price and, perhaps, quality difference. I also appreciate that, particularly for those on low incomes, this is a very important consideration. I do not deny the right of such families to get the best possible value and return from their weekly pay packet. We cannot expect, and I am sure the Irish Goods Council do not expect, people to purchase goods which are substandard or which are not comparable in value with imported products. We are, however, entitled to expect, all things being equal, particularly at this difficult time, that our shops and our supermarkets should give prominence to Irish made goods of quality and value.
I am pleased to note that there has been a positive response from many of our stores to the recent request from the Minister for Industry, Commerce and Tourism to promote Irish goods and to the efforts also of the Irish Goods Council. One of the great problems in the past is that this effort has not been sustained. It is here that the customer can exert his influence, by continuing to ask for the home produced product. Another important issue is the influence of multinational combines on the Irish market. We all know that the small shopkeeper is under considerable pressure, and I regret very much the disappearance of the traditional family grocer. They provided a personal service and, at times, a social service.
In the economic environment in which they now operate, many of them are forced to sell the imported product if it is more attractively priced. Multinational syndicates have a serious obligation to our country in ensuring that they do not use their vast resources to undermine this important aspect of our economy. I have strong reservations about the long-term effect and benefit of such multinationals on our commercial life.
We are all genuinely interested in economic development. Our programmes succeed or fail for various reasons. Many of our policies are difficult to implement. Could it be that what we are discussing here is too simple a solution to the problem? It does not, for instance, require massive borrowing, there is no element of compulsion about it, its success is completely dependent on the voluntary decision of each and every one of us. If so, it reflects lack of concern on our part for our future. If we are lucky to be in secure employment it reflects a degree of selfishness and a lack of concern for those who are less fortunate. These may be strong words, they may be provocative words, but strong words are needed at this time to stir the public conscience.
Every factory that closes, every man and woman who loses a job, every school leaver who fails to get work, will cost the Exchequer and the individual many thousands of pounds. We are all familiar with the increasing costs of financing government policies. We complain about the growing volume of taxation necessary for this purpose and, yet by our own actions, we seriously undermine one very important aspect of economic development. The so-called imaginary savings of cheaper imported goods is outweighed by the increase in taxation which is necessary to meet that situation.
The retail sector is a very crucial link between industry and the consumer, and the Irish Goods Council have been correct in aiming their programme to influence the retail sector into thinking positively about promoting and selling Irish made products. They must be made to realise that a depressed manufacturing sector means a reduction in consumer expenditure and a loss of retailing profits and, therefore, what may seem to them to be a short-term gain can, in the long term be a substantial loss. The success of this campaign is an educational process. Young people who, in the long term, will be the real beneficiaries have a very important role to play. The long-term necessity of supporting Irish products should be promulgated through our schools, and I would like to see a situation where our teachers, who have been to the forefront in community leadership down through the years, taking on this important national role of trying to encourage and promote in the schools the importance of purchasing and supporting Irish industry. The influence of our young people in shaping our destiny and our future is very important and they have a very significant contribution to make.
We must ensure that our teachers and our students alike understand the economic necessity to support the "Buy Irish" campaign. One area of organisation within this country which is largely untapped and which has a very important role to play is the trade union movement. I was very pleased during the week to read their official magazine Liberty and to find that the editorial comment called on trade unionists all over the country to recognise the serious situation prevailing and that they should, in the national and in their own interest, support the campaign.
If the trade union movement put its full weight and its full support behind this campaign, they would achieve tremendous results. I call for a very definite and positive commitment from all aspects of the trade union movement at this time for all Irish workers to support the actions and the campaigns of the Irish Goods Council. It is in their own interests that they should do this.
There are other areas where there is scope for further promotion of Irish made products. Purchasing officers in State bodies are not always conscious, as they should be, of the need to buy Irish products. There has been an improvement in this respect in recent years. It is only fair to say that very many of them now recognise the importance of buying Irish. There is no excuse for any purchasing officer in any public body to buy an imported product if a similar product of quality is available.
There is room for further improvement and further expansion. We all know and recognise the important contribution which the Industrial Development Authority has made in relation to the establishment of new industries. In recent years they have been successful in their import substitution drive. There is tremendous scope for the manufacturer of numerous small items which are at present being imported. I hope the drive, which was so successful over the last couple of years, will continue and that we will eventually reach the stage where every component which is imported into this country, if it is possible, can be manufactured here. It is laudable and desirable to do so.
As a farmer, it annoys me considerably to see the very high food import bills. We are an agricultural economy. We have a soil and a climate which is capable of producing a very wide range of agricultural products. We should be able to process all those products in our factories to the betterment of our agricultural industry and the workers of this country. Yet, for some strange reason, we find it necessary to continue to import massive amounts of foodstuffs from abroad which could and should be produced and processed in this country. There is a lack of organisation, endeavour and seriousness. I hope that this is one aspect of economic activity which could be developed and improved in the future.
I know we will get constructive comments and that the motion will be supported by Members from all sides of the House.