Buy Irish Campaign: Motion.

Mr. Lydon

I move:

That Seanad Éireann notes the very large lists of foreign made goods available in this country at competitive prices and re-emphasises the need to buy Irish to protect jobs.

I recognise that there have been many campaigns to encourage the buying of Irish goods. I am surprised that they have not been more successful. Millions of pounds of imported goods are brought into the country annually, many of them of superior quality and most of them at very competitive prices. The goods imported sometimes come from countries where less than a full and honest wage is paid.

It is from that background that Irish manufacturers have to start to develop and compete. As public representatives we have a major role to play. We must never stop highlighting the importance of buying Irish in order to support industries at home and to provide jobs.

I have examined areas where we are not competitive, where industry has not developed to the stage where it can compete with bigger companies based in England and elsewhere — confectionery, biscuits, chocolates, cosmetics, soaps, detergents, washing powders, polishes, flavourings, additives, colourings and a massive range of goods, where the industrial base is not developed enough and the market uptake within our country is not sufficient to allow the manufacturer a market base. However, there are many areas where we can compete. It is in these areas that we will have to work hardest.

Clothing is as cheap in Ireland as anywhere in Europe and is of a very high standard. The VAT is 10 per cent here on clothing and in the Six Counties and in Britain is a 15 per cent tax. We should have a 5 per cent advantage here. We have a good sound base in the whole of the garment industry that can compete with any country in the world except in countries where there is slave labour. I believe we have to be on our guard and we have to highlight the practice of dumping into this country and relabelling and marketing under a name that gives an Irish flavour or a national ring to it.

I was in Brussels recently and had time to look at the price of clothing in the shops there. I was amazed to see socks selling at £10 and ties at £20 to £50, shirts up to £100 and suits up to £500 or £600, yet there is no outcry in that city about prices. I honestly believe that for clothing, Ireland is as cheap as any country in Europe and whether you are wearing a Donegal tweed suit, a shirt made in one of our many factories in Donegal, or a lady's outfit from Nenagh Models in Castlefin in Donegal, you are wearing the best at a competitive price.

We have got to say that loud and clear because there are people who never stop ramming down our throats the good value they are getting in Liverpool, Newry and Belfast. Even yesterday on one of our chat shows, RTE were able to provide a reported interview about those who went on a shopping expedition to Swansea to highlight the value and advantages of travelling outside Ireland to spend their money. I am happy to see that my colleague, Senator McGowan, has written to RTE in this regard. He has taken them up on this point and has outlined many areas where we compete very favourably.

I ask RTE who do they think is paying for their existence and whether they are damaging our economy by highlighting these people and asking them to go abroad. It is an unfair advantage that the people selling goods in Swansea have free advertising on our national media and we do not get any free advertising on Northern Ireland radio or on BBC. I have the feeling that the Irish Goods Council, manufacturers and business people here are often too complacent and they are not doing enough. It is time they got off their collective bottoms and developed a more aggressive marketing plan for Irish manufactured goods.

Everybody is talking about the food industry and what we should be doing to stop millions of pounds of unnecessary imports coming into the country. I totally agree, but they have been talking for too long and very little positive action has been taken. So far, we are relatively pollution free and we have a good environment here, ideal for the production of good clean healthy food. Our creameries and our dairy products are well developed. Meat and meat products are now being developed and I have no doubt that this will be a major advance and a major advantage to the country.

A major area that we have to develop, in my opinion, is the fishing industry. We saw the arrival today of a new processing boat. It is unfortunate that this boat, together with the other boats in Killy-begs, will be tied up from now until the end of January because we have such small fish quotas. I hope that our renegotiations in that area will lead us to getting better quotas. I can see, off our shores, foreign fleets fishing huge quotas. The British have a quota greater than they can fish while we are left now with an industry languishing until next January. We have got to get our act together or we will soon have nobody working here in this industry.

Tillage, too, is still a very low priority in Ireland. Every conference, discussion and debate about agriculture lays the total emphasis on milk, dairy heads, calves, pigs, sheep, etc., but little attention is paid to tillage. I attended a conference on agriculture recently and I observed that seven speakers out of 11 concentrated on milk and milk products. About two years ago we had serious flooding and consequential crop damage. The Minister for Agriculture of the day visited many farms and holdings but, unfortunately, was not in a position to give any direct assistance to the tillage farmers.

Every scheme of assistance that has been introduced in this country for the past 20 years was based on headage payments, milk subsidies, calf and suckling schemes, sheep headage payments — anything but assessment for tillage. Nobody in this country involved in agriculture has considered the number of small farmers who have made a living down the years in tillage. On the contrary, even the lime subsidy has been withdrawn, and the EC were paying 50 per cent of that grant.

It surprises me that successive Ministers for Agriculture do not realise the vast number of people who have been driven onto the dole and driven off small farms who were dependent totally on tillage. If we do not have a tillage support policy very soon, we will have the total land population on the dole and a future generation of young people will be hard to force back onto the land again.

There is considerable scope for replacing some inputs in developing our export trade. It is claimed by the main buyers of fruit and vegetables that the Irish growers cannot supply the volume and quality they require on a consistent basis. This is largely due to the fragmentation of the industry and the failure of the growers to form marketing groups. Irish producers have, in general, failed to appreciate the changing trends of modern markets.

Consumer requirements have developed to the stage where only top quality produce finds profitable sale. The emphasis is now on the appearance of produce such as free from blemish, good size, packaging and other visually important features. Emphasis is often placed on these more than on such features as taste and texture. The major retail outlets have been highly conscious of the consumers' demands. Supermarket chains compete with each other on the basis of the high quality of their fruit and vegetable departments. To maintain high standards in this area, they find it more convenient in many cases to use imported produce which they can secure in the quality and quantities they require. Often the cost of the produce is not a serious consideration in their purchases.

It is vital that Irish growers should supply the quality required by the consumer and the volume required by the retailer. This can only be achieved through co-ordinating marketing, with growers coming together in groups to supply the quality and volume required. The larger the group, the greater will be their marketing power and the ability to employ market specialists. Any move in the direction of groups, no matter how small, will be welcome instead of the present unsatisfactory individualistic approach.

The demand for high quality and variety of fruits and vegetables all the year around requires new technology in growing, harvesting, storage and marketing. The new variety capable of giving a high percentage of top grade uniform product must be used in place of the older varieties, and new techniques to extend the growing season, reduce disease and increase yields, must be adopted.

There are many areas where we can replace imports. We look at, for example, glasshouse fruit crops. Approximately £3½ million worth of tomato imports could be replaced if an extra 5,000 tonnes of tomatoes were produced in the early and late season. This represents the output of 50 to 100 acres of greenhouse production. Exports to the Six Counties and Scotland valued at £1 million could be achieved by an efficient industry.

Another crop, cucumbers, valued at £200,000 and peppers valued at £500,000 could be grown from a further 15 acres of greenhouses. Mushrooms are another area. This export oriented industry is an example of what can be done. A combination of good research advice and entrepreneurial skills has resulted in this unique Irish industry competing successfully on international markets.

The main thrust of what I want to say is that it is necessary for us in this House to emphasise time and time again the importance of buying Irish. If we do not then, very soon, we will be relying totally on imported goods. We have to consider that when we are buying an item in a shop, irrespective of what it is, if it is a brand name, a labelled name, whether it be perfume, an Italian suit, or whatever, we may be buying something nice, or what we consider to be beautiful, but we are also buying away a job here in Ireland. If we could divert some of the public money spent on exporting goods, we could perhaps increase our production and our employment figures. If we do not, we will very soon drive people away from the country.

Everybody has a part to play. I do not believe we will cure all our ills in the Seanad this evening but we can demonstrate an awareness of what is happening. Hopefully we will encourage a few more people to move in the same direction and to think when they go to shop whether the article they are about to buy is manufactured by Irish hands or is a foreign import. If it is a foreign import it simply is doing away with jobs in this country. If it is Irish-made we have a chance to succeed and to survive. That is the only way forward.

Mr. Fitzsimons

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak later.

Mr. Manning

I want to make a particularly brief intervention in this debate because, frankly, while this is a motion with which no person in this country could disagree, it might be more appropriate if it were taken during Government time when all parties could, in effect, endorse these sentiments. However having said that, the motion is before us this evening. I will speak very briefly.

First of all, I do not think anybody can disagree with the sentiments behind this motion or with the purpose it sets out to achieve. All of us have been scandalised in recent times by the lists published of goods which did not have to be imported to this country, which people, exercising the smallest amount of caution or the smallest amount of concern could have substituted with Irish-made goods, where any sort of thought on the part of the people purchasing would have made them realise that by purchasing Irish goods they were contributing to the safeguarding of jobs in this country.

Perhaps we do not do enough in our schools at all levels first, second and third, especially in the early days, to drive home cause and effect, to show to our young people that whatever it is they are buying, be it sweets, toys or anything, by buying Irish they are contributing in a very practical way to the safeguarding of jobs and welfare in the country especially in a very beleagured time. It is so basic that it hardly needs to be spelt out again this evening in one of the Houses of the Oireachtas. Nonetheless, if the message goes out that the Seanad endorses this proposal, it is a further reminder and an addition to the efforts of Córas Tráchtála, the Confederation of Irish Industry, the Irish Goods Council, the Buy Irish Campaign and all the various bodies and Chambers of Commerce around the country who are trying to get home this message that is particularly relevant in such a difficult time.

It is very clear from past experience that appeals to patriotism and to nationalist self-interest will go only part of the way. In many ways the most fundamental explanation for this is the most obvious one that, again in hard-pressed times, price will be the factor which will decide what the purchaser will buy. The price will decide between the various goods on offer and I do not think any of us can blame people in hard-pressed times for allowing price to be the main factor.

When we are appealing to Irish people to buy Irish, not just this Christmas, but to make it a consistent policy of theirs throughout the entire year, we must be very conscious of a number of other fairly obvious factors. All of the points I am going to make probably are obvious and do not need to be dwelt on for too long.

Obviously price is the key factor. If we are not price competitive then our goods have no place being in the shops trying to seek support. The second obvious factor is quality. There are many disturbing stories told about quality control in many Irish factories, goods coming on to the market which are substandard, shoddy workmanship and the absence of any consumer consciousness on the part of manufacturers.

I have no doubt that in recent times we have improved a great deal. While an earlier speaker was critical of the free publicity given on programmes like the "Gay Byrne Hour" to bargains available in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales or Liverpool or wherever, it has to be said also that programmes like the "Gay Byrne Hour", "Day by Day" and some of our newspapers have contributed greatly to an increase in consumer awareness so that consumers are more aware of their rights and one outgrowth of this has been a much better educated public. People simply will not accept second best, shoddy goods. They will not accept from manufacturers anything other than courtesy and attention to detail, followup and so forth.

All of us have many bad experiences of going out to buy Irish where the goods simply were not of the necessary quality. We cannot ask Irish people to put the emphasis on buying Irish if the goods are not of the proper quality nor should we afford Irish manufacturers the protection of this trade barrier to enable them to continue in ways which are mediocre, to produce goods which are second rate. Obviously, unless quality is consistent, unless companies pay attention to quality control, unless, companies have a strong sense of consumer awareness we can not even begin to compete for people's attention and for their money.

In the same way the question of quality is essential in areas of agriculture. The last speaker mentioned some of the possible areas in agricultural products where we can and should score. As a country we have not always been the best at maintaining high standards of hygiene, we have not always been the best at ensuring that our vegetables are properly cleaned when they come on to the market, that they are properly graded, that they are of sufficient quality.

Frequently, unfortunately, we can see from imported vegetables how well graded and cleaner they are, how consistent they are in quality. There has in the past — I believe the attitude is changing — too often been a feeling among Irish producers of vegetables and of some foodstuffs that the home market is all right, anything will do for the home market and they can afford to take it for granted. Unless this keen edge of competitiveness and a consciousness and awareness of standards becomes part and parcel of our productive area then we will not command the attention or the support of Irish people.

The same thing is true of marketing. One of the areas which we neglected until very recently was the whole question of marketing. Often, for factories, it was simple enough to produce what they thought was a good item. Frequently it was a good item but they paid no attention whatsoever to the type of market it might be suitable for, who were the people who would buy it, were there people out there with an interest in the type of goods, were there people out there with the capacity to buy it, would a cheaper or a more expensive version of the same thing have been more appropriate? In recent times we have become much more conscious of the value of strategic marketing, of the value of matching goods to specific markets. That is the second factor which needs to be looked at very carefully.

The third area is the question of design. Many purchases take place after a very quick visual contact. People see something, they like the look of it, if they are to decide between three or four of the same type of items, appearance will frequently be the deciding factor. Up to about 20 years ago this country was probably visually illiterate. We had no sense of design, we paid no attention to it, we did not think it was important. We manufactured goods, we thought they were of good quality but we had no sense of the impact of design. I believe there has been a revolution in that respect over the last 20 years. With the work of the Kilkenny Design Centre based in the early stages on imported experts from Scandinavia especially, based on the experience and the work of Kilkenny, and indeed the work of the various design schools around the country. We now have a population of extremely talented young designers who are bursting to put their talents at the disposal of Irish manufacturers. I hope that companies will take this lesson on board, that we now have good designers and we should use their talents to the full if we are to make an impact on the home and export markets.

Those are the few observations I would like to make about this Motion. It is a Motion which obviously will command the support of all parties in the House. I hope it is noticed outside. I hope it is one further step in the process of educating our people to appreciate the importance of supporting Irish goods and also in bringing home to manufacturers and to shopkeepers that they too have an enormous obligation, first of all, to display Irish goods to the best possible advantage and secondly to ensure that only Irish goods which are right in price, right in design and right in quality are offered, because bad goods can get Irish manufacturers a very bad name indeed. One bad experience can turn people off a product for life so that the emphasis has to be constantly on consistency and on quality.

We have made good strides in recent years in this regard but the figure mentioned by the Minister of State in an earlier debate today of £1 billion worth of goods imported at the present time which could very easily be substituted by Irish-made goods is an appalling indication of how far we still have to go. It also offers us a great challenge because if the energies and attentions of our people, our manufacturers and our consumers are properly focussed an attack on this figure could represent enormous progress in providing the jobs and the degree of prosperity which we all desire.

We live in an era of free competition, we are a member of the European Community that gives us access to one of the biggest markets in the world and also opens us up to competition from some of the most sophisticated and developed countries in the world. We do not have the luxury today of building a barrier around this country, as we were able to do in the 1930s and the 1940s. There is no one there to protect us. There is very little we can do to protect ourselves but I believe that at this stage in our history we have the capacity to go out there and offer as good as is offered in any country in the world. If we do that, the Irish people will not be found wanting in their response.

Dr. O'Connell

I would like to say a few words on this Motion. We all hear of this question of lip service being paid to Irish goods and what we must do to create more jobs in the country. I often think our media plays a very important part in demeaning Irish industries and demeaning Irish products and indeed in undermining the sense of national confidence that is required. I notice that irrespective of the efforts of the Irish Goods Council and all the other agencies to advertise Irish goods and the quality of Irish goods, our media especially television are doing untold harm in this regard. We have two TV channels and what we are not doing is utilising these in the best interest of our country. I have not seen in recent years television cameras going into some of the factories in Ireland and showing the manufacturing process, showing the quality of our goods, showing the staff that is employed there, and I feel that is needed. It would be putting our television channels to proper use if we could get that done. Unfortunately, we have lost our sense of national confidence and we have developed an inferiority complex about Irish goods. This is the barrier to the purchase of Irish goods, this inbuilt resistance, the idea that develops that they could not be as good as foreign products.

I see in Britain today a great sense of patriotism about British products. I heard today on the radio about the Chairman of the Society of Motor Traders in Britain saying that a new confidence has come to Britain about British cars. The sale of British cars in Britain now far exceeds the sale of foreign cars for the first time. They promoted this and they talked about "Britain, be British". This is where they have scored tremendously and they have had a great effect on the whole economy. There is a new sense of pride about British goods. I would like to see a similar sense of pride here.

That is what we need. The quality is there; the price is there. The price is good and quality is good. We need a sense of pride about buying Irish goods. Unless we develop this I do not think we will succeed in having Irish goods receive their proper share of the market.

I lived in America for four years and I was astounded at the sense of pride in the local community about the factories there. I was buying something and they said: "No, you cannot; you must buy the product that is manufactured in our area". I would like to see that kind of pride developed here in every community. Let our cameras go in and see the factories that are manufacturing, see how it is done. In that way we will come to realise our potential. I do not think advertisements in national newspapers will achieve the effect of television programmes about jobs and about what that means. That message has to be got across to the people. I notice British multiples in Ireland selling exclusively British products. This is something we should look at, and tell people that they are buying British products exclusively. This is not in the interest of our country. We do not mind British multiples coming here and selling goods but they should be asked to supply a very high proportion of Irish goods in their retail outlets here.

That is the important aspect of the Irish goods problem, overcoming this barrier that I see there. Our clothes are good, the products are good all round; I see nothing wrong with them. I went yesterday to have a look. I found that Irish products are every bit as good as, if not superior to, the foreign products. It is up to us and especially to the media to promote Irish goods. This would be a new form of patriotism which we need to develop, a patriotism that realises that jobs, people's livelihoods are at stake. The Irish goods are there if we really want to help solve our employment problem. The quality is there. I would have no hesitation in saying that. I would ask our media to play a greater role in promoting Irish goods.

Mr. Fitzsimons

I had a recent experience with regard to Irish goods. I purchased a pair of shoes and the selling price was £45. They were a pair of shoes that looked very well and, as you know down the country, we bargain a little bit and I got them reduced somewhat. But the first day I wore them, there was a shower of rain and they soaked the rain as if they were made of blotting paper. I went back to the shop where I purchased them and I complained to the man who sold them to me. He said, "Yes, they let in the rain all right. They are made for comfort, not to keep out the rain". If he had told me that when I purchased them it certainly would have influenced my choice of shoes because at the same time I could buy a very good pair of imported shoes at one-third of that cost.

I was interested when Senator Manning mentioned design and the improvements we have made. Yes, of course, we have to an extent, from the aesthetic point of view, from the point of view of the appearance of the articles we have made good progress but design also takes into consideration the function of the item. I would say that in this case here we have a situation where someone fell down on design; design-wise, it was a failure. That is unfortunate because it gives a bad name to Irish products. What Members have said is basically true. We have nothing to be ashamed of. We have made great strides and, indeed, there are areas where we have made exceptional strides, for example, with regard to the Kilkenny Design Workshop. Perhaps we should have more establishments of that kind.

I am quite well aware that from the point of view of patriotism and concern for our own people we should purchase Irish-made goods but I have the greatest sympathy with the less-well-off family, the mother, for example, with a family of young children and limited finance. I can very well understand a woman in that situation not being to concerned whether the shoes, the clothes she buys or other items she buys are Irish-manufactured or not. There is a problem here and, as has already been stated, it is a free market now; it is a pity in a sense that we could not make provision by way of grants to reduce the cost. That would be money well spent but we are in a situation where we cannot do that. That is unfortunate, but I do sympathise with people in that situation.

The position with regard to potatoes has been mentioned. It is very difficult to understand in a country that has been famous for its potatoes for many centuries why we should have such a high import rate. The figures have been given already: really the situation is that with the soil we have in this country, the climate, the facilities, the expertise, the history of growing potatoes, we should be an exporting nation. The opposite is the case. The same applies as regards vegetables. It is difficult to understand, again given the climate we have, that we cannot produce enough vegetables for our own use. I have known instances — I have related them before in this House — where people made an attempt to grow vegetables and they were unsuccessful.

I knew one market gardener who had an acre of ground and found it cheaper to come up to Dublin and buy his vegetables and take them down and sell them than to grow them himself. Of course all over the country we have untilled gardens and it would seem a good case could be made in some way to encourage people by way of providing seeds or incentives of some kind to till their gardens but in the main they are neglected. I knew of one farmer who grew 15 acres of beans; the season was bad and he could not sell the beans when they were harvested. I related in this House a case where a farmer grew cabbages; he took two loads of the best cabbages that could be grown into the Dublin market but he failed to get a sale for them. He dumped them on the way home. I knew one person in Navan many years ago who constructed a very big glasshouse; he grew tomatoes and grew them very successfully but when he had the tomatoes he failed to get sale for them because they came in at a time when all the Irish tomatoes, apparently, were ripe and ready for sale and he could not sell them.

We have the same position, I believe, as regards sugar. If the Irish people purchased the sugar manufactured in this country we would not have the situation where factories would be threatened with closure. Another situation I have mentioned many times is in relation to a very scenic area between Nobber and Drumconrath in County Meath an area known as Ballyhoe, where damsons grow wild in the fields and gardens and along the sides of the road. It is an area that could be promoted as a major tourist area — beautiful scenery, a beautiful lake, marvellous fishing — and yet the damsons by and large are wasted. One would expect in that situation we would have a jam factory, so that we would be able to provide damsons for jam-making, thus paying the people on whose land they grew but that is not the position.

Fish is another item that is a problem. Again, it is difficult to understand in an island that we actually import fish when we should be supplying fish to the world. Indeed, on a smaller scale, with regard to the fish in our rivers and lakes, we have a growing problem. I recall in my own area as a young boy small rivers that had trout and salmon and during the spawning season those rivers were poached. It was criminal to tolerate that situation where we had the great potential of those rivers and streams being, taken away selfishly by people for their own use. We still have that happening and it will be very difficult to eliminate it. In addition, we have the problem of pollution.

I also see problems in relation to activities in our towns where we have stalls set up in a market environment, often it seems to me by people who are not natives of this country. I do not object to that, but those people do not pay rent or rates. They pay a nominal charge for the right to set up and sell their wares and we see clothes sold at a price that is lower than shops in those towns can afford. We see carpets sold in Navan where we have quality carpets manufactured in a factory that gives good employment. Those cheap carpets are sold on the fairgreen in Navan and, of course, the factory cannot compete with those prices.

In reading some of the recommendations and suggestions by the various Ministers — and I would like to refer to them in a moment — I was intrigued to note in one of them that it was suggested the Government and State agencies could play a bigger role by purchasing from smaller firms. I have no doubt this is so but my experience over the years is that small business firms are very reluctant to deal with State agencies because State agencies are, by and large, "a bad pay". I have known quite a few businesses that will not supply to State agencies because they could not get paid on time when the money was due: when they looked for payment they were told to send in copy invoices. That is not good enough. It is something that has to be faced. When firms and small businesses supply goods they should be paid promptly. It is important that they are paid promptly and if this is done it will help in a big measure to ensure that Irish-made goods are competitive and that firms are able to stay in business.

Dumping has been referred to and dumping is a big problem. I know that there are regulations and laws dealing with that problem but I brought the matter up on one occasion here where Gypsum Industries, a firm who employ a big workforce, had a major difficulty through the import of cheap products from Spain. I brought this matter up in this House but I did not get the hearing I would have liked. The problem continued. I am not sure how it has developed since then but it was a real problem and a problem that Gypsum Industries felt could close them down eventually. Thankfully, they are still in business.

There are ways of dealing with most of those problems. The situation with regard to Northern Ireland has been referred to. It was one of the problems we saw at first-hand when we were canvassing in the last election where people could get petrol in Northern Ireland at practically half the price it was sold at in the Republic. We saw the situation where all the filling stations along the Border were closed up and had become derelict. Thankfully, this has been reversed. It was the same with regard to other commodities. Tribute should be paid to the Government that they have dealt adequately and efficiently with that problem.

It is a matter of concern that small businesses and small groceries have in many cases gone. In their own way they played a major social role. People who owned them worked hard. They were there all the time serving the customers. I remember an elderly man in my own locality who was regarded as a very wise man and he said to me: "He who by the plough must live himself must either lead or drive". I think this is most important. When one is in business, one must be there, one must work hard, must be seen to be there because when people come in they want to deal with you.

I mentioned the problems regarding energy and where research in wave energy, wind energy and solar energy, would in itself bring about a situation where we would be dealing with appliances which could be made here and where employment could be given here. In relation to this debate it is no harm to mention that finances are available from the EC with regard to research in this area. We should be trying to make greater use of what is available in this respect.

Managerial skills are very important for small businesses. While I do not feel that we have lacked managerial skills over the years I do feel that perhaps in the context of family businesses and in the social set-up where people know one another intimately, it was not easy to make difficult decisions. In other words, where there were financial problems the local grocery tried to help out and it may have been difficult to get payment in the finish. Nowadays that kind of relationship is gone and people are inclined to take legal advice with regard to getting payments which are due to them. Of course, in this way they lose friends but the business must be kept going. This is one of the things we must remember with regard to managerial skills. Making decisions of that kind is difficult but important. The EC has special concern for small businesses and we will be dealing with that report in the near future.

Overall, by buying Irish goods we are contributing to employment and that is a problem area at present. A week or so ago we had a circular from the Minister for Industry and Commerce regarding the export boom. It is a very brief circular and I will refer to the first two paragraphs of it because they are very telling. In the first paragraph the Minister with responsibility for trade and marketing, Deputy Brennan, said that in the 29 shopping days to Christmas we will import £2.7 million worth of gift-type products per day. This was not per week but per day. He continued: "If during those few weeks £1 in £5 of this were switched to Irish gift products it would support upwards of 1,000 Irish jobs and earn the country some £16 million." The Minister went on to say that looking at the range of goods which will be on most of our shopping lists this Christmas it was a challenge to us all to note the high level of foreign gift purchases in 1986. And he listed a few of them, as follows: "In men's and boys' wear we imported £63 million worth of goods. In ladies' outer wear we import £131 million worth of goods. In shirts we imported £15 million worth. In greeting cards we imported £7.5 million worth. In toys we imported £42 million worth. In ornamental jewellery we imported £10 million worth. In handbags we imported £5 million worth. This represents a total import bill of about £270 million of which roughly £80 million was spent over the Christmas shopping period."

I have no time to develop that further but clearly in the light of what I said I think it indicates the importance of purchasing on every possible occasion Irish-made goods in preference to imported goods.

Debate adjourned.

Mr. W. Ryan

As we have no other speakers it appears that very few Members of this House are interested in the promotion of Irish goods. Therefore, I propose that we adjourn until 11.30 a.m. on Friday, 4 December 1987.

Seanad Éireann debate - Wednesday, 2 Dec 1987