asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce whether he is aware that agents of foreign firms, having no business premises in the Saorstát, are inflicting loss on business people who pay rates and taxes, and on Irish manufacturers, by trading in Dublin under deceptive titles and selling shoddy goods at exorbitant prices on the instalment system, and whether the Minister will consider the advisability of introducing legislation to curb such activities and to compel those engaging in them to trade under their real names and addresses.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - ACTIVITIES OF FOREIGN FIRMS' AGENTS.
By the Business Names Act, 1916, persons having a place of business in the Saorstát and carrying on business under names other than their own are required to register their own names and nationality with the Registrar of Business Names and to show on trade catalogues, trade circulars, show cards and business letters, their own names. No representations have been made to me that the provisions of the Act are insufficient for their purpose or that they are being evaded. If the Deputy will furnish me with particulars of the cases on which his question is founded, I will have inquiries made.