The Minister is very welcome.
Control of Exports (Temporary Provisions) Act, 1956 (Continuance) Bill, 1982: Second and Subsequent Stages.
Question proposed: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time".
An Leas-Chathaoirleach
The Control of Exports (Temporary Provisions) Act, 1956, was enacted initially for a period of three years. It has since been renewed on a number of occasions under various continuance Acts, the most recent being the Control of Exports (Temporary Provisions) Act, 1956 (Continuance) Act, 1977, which extended the validity of the 1956 Act for a further period of five years to 31 December 1982.
The purpose of this Bill is to continue the 1956 Act until 31 December 1983.
The Act empowers the Minister for Trade, Commerce and Tourism to prohibit by Order the export of industrial goods save under licence issued by him. Such orders have a life of twelve months only and may be annulled by a resolution of either house of the Oireachtas at any time during that period. Control is at present in force on the export of waste and scrap metals and on the export of strategic goods such as aircraft and parts, arms, ammunition, electronic and precision instruments and so on, under the Control of Exports Order 1981, copies of which were presented to the House.
The continuing necessity for this legislation derives from the need:
(a) to be able to comply with our obligations under European Economic Community law to restrict, for the benefit of Irish and Community processors, the export of essential products to third countries. At present these obligations require the exercise of restrictions on the export to third countries of scarce scrap metals to maintain conditions of comparative price stability in the Community market;
(b) to ensure that strategic materials are not exported from or through this country to destinations where they could be used for undesirable purposes. Export controls on material classified as strategic are not operated at Community level. Members of the European Economic Community and some other countries control the export of such materials under national legislation and this Bill will enable this country to continue to do likewise. Our participation in international strategic control is based on this country's need to import certain high technology industrial materials and components required by more sophisticated industries established here and which cater for export markets. Since the movement of these materials to Ireland is contingent on our participation in the strategic control arrangements it is essential that the Minister should continue to control the export of materials of a strategic character to ensure continued access to the materials and components concerned and that employment is maintained in the industries which use them;
(c) to have immediately available a means of dealing quickly with any emergency which might deprive the country of essential materials before corrective legislation could be enacted. For example, exports which would deprive Irish industry of basic raw materials, such as scrap metals and certain kinds of timber;
(d) to have available generally power to control exports, to any country, as required by our foreign or other policy considerations.
Senators will have noted that the Bill proposes an extension of the 1956 Act for one year only. This does not mean that need for its provisions is coming to an end. Indeed the indications are that the needs for the legislation which I have outlined will continue for the foreseeable future. For that reason it is desirable to make permanent the powers contained in the Control of Exports (Temporary Provisions) Act, 1956. I will, therefore, be coming back to the House with proposals in this matter during the coming year. Senators will then have a further opportunity of debating this problem.
For the reasons which I have outlined I commend the Bill to the favourable consideration of Seanad Éireann.
Had this Bill been taken earlier in the day a lot of useful discussion could have taken place. But, at this late hour, there is not much point in our delaying too long on it. The Minister stated, in the latter part of his introductory remarks he will be introducing another Bill in this House next year. When that Bill is introduced I hope all of us will be here to listen to the Minister. I welcome the Bill. I also congratulate the Minister on his recent appointment and wish him well.
I join Senator W. Ryan in extending my congratulations to the Minister on his appointment. I wish him a lengthy and successful occupancy in his post.
As the Minister said the Bill simply extends the provisions of the 1956 Act for a period of one further year. I note that the previous extension was a period of five years from 1977 which expires at the end of this month. The Minister is asking the House to extend those provisions for a further year. It is a reasonable request and I see no reason why we should not agree to it. The Minister also indicated that it is his belief that the need for this Bill is likely to continue into the foreseeable future and that he expects to be coming back to the House in the course of the coming year with a further Bill in this respect. Therefore we can reserve a lot of our comments until that occasion.
May I make one observation only? The Minister has indicated that he foresees continued need for this Bill. The world economic situation, being what it is, has, I suspect, given rise to the need for the provisions of this Bill. I expect that until the international economic situation improves to the point when the necessity for these provisions will no longer arise we must continue to provide this protection. Therefore I welcome and support the Bill.
I thank the House for their response to the Bill. As I indicated — and as Senators have noted — there will be a further opportunity in the coming year to discuss the essence of the Bill when I shall be returning here asking that the powers embodied in this Bill be made permanent.
In conclusion I should like to thank Senator Ryan and Senator Howard for their good wishes, to thank the House for the way in which they dealt with the Bill and to wish Senators a very happy Christmas and a successful pursuit of whatever activities they may be engaged in at the moment.
Question put and agreed to.
Agreed to take remaining Stages today.
Bill put through Committee, reported without amendment, received for final consideration and passed.