asked the Minister for Supplies if he is aware that owing to the emergency, a Dublin firm installed machinery for the manufacture of lenses; that this machinery was installed for the supplying of lenses including spectacles for the children of 215 national schools throughout the city; that, owing to the restrictions in electric current, this firm, which is the sole supplier of lenses and spectacles under the Dublin Corporation School Medical Service Scheme, will be unable to continue these supplies, and whether, having regard to the serious loss to the scheme and the consequent hardship on the children concerned, he will ask to have the matter reconsidered by the Electricity Supply Board, with a view to increasing the ration of electric power to the factory.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Electricity for Spectacles Manufacturer.
In view of the serious deterioration in the supply situation I am not prepared to ask the Electricity Supply Board to grant exceptional treatment by way of an increase in the ration of electricity allowed to the firm in question.
May I ask the Minister if there is any possibility of recommending the Electricity Supply Board to give even a moderate supply of electricity to this firm in the present emergency? I think he will appreciate the loss which this means to the people affected by the non-manufacture of these lenses.
The Deputy will appreciate that there must be some attempt to secure a uniform treatment of all manufacturing firms. The manufacturing users of electricity are at present working on 75 per cent. of their 1943 consumption. If it were to be made the practice that allowance would be made for the exceptional circumstances of individual firms, such as the circumstances which arise in this case, where an increase in business has been secured by the firm, it would be impossible to maintain uniform treatment. I think the only prospect for the firm is that the situation should so improve as to permit of an all-round increase in electricity for manufacturing purposes.