asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is aware that merchant tailors in country districts are unable to obtain from wholesalers the monthly quotas of cloth shown on the permits to purchase cloth issued by his Department; if he is also aware that the wholesalers maintain that they are not in receipt of sufficient stocks to fill all tailors' orders; and whether he will have the position regarding the disposal of cloth in the hands of these wholesalers examined, with a view to securing that those tailors, who depend for their livelihood on such stocks of cloth as they can obtain, will be enabled to purchase, in each ration period, the full quota of cloth permitted by his Department.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Tailors' Cloth Supplies.
The reply to the first two parts of the Deputy's question is in the negative.
The allocation of quotas is based on estimated total supplies. Subject to limitation as to total quantity, it is a matter for each trader to obtain his own supplies, and I do not propose to depart from this system.
Is not the Minister aware that it is quite impossible to fill the quotas allotted in men's suitings and there is not the least use in providing a merchant tailor in a rural town in Ireland with afghaline to make a suit for the Minister because, if he used it, you could see the Minister through the suit. You cannot make a man's suit out of a lady's light dress material.
I take the Deputy's word for it.
The Minister is as well informed as I am. The pair of us were born in the trade.