If he did, I doubt if people would follow the line he preached. That was the propaganda and the suggestion, and the effort undoubtedly was made to undermine the confidence of the people in the new Government which had assumed office. It was part of the general aim at that time to try to justify, in one way or another, the former Taoiseach's prophecy of doom and disaster, if there was a change of Government. The Minister, as Minister for Industry and Commerce, was the butt of much of that propaganda. It was directed against him and his Department, and the effort undoubtedly was made to suggest that he, as Minister, could not provide the proper industrial impetus which this country needed. I think it must have been a proud moment for the Minister when he was able to say, as he said, that the official figures he gave the House and the country "told a story of steady progress and clearly reflected the confidence of the public in the Government's industrial policy."
The Minister had good and sound reasons for making that statement. He was referring to figures of industrial employment over the past 12 months and new industrial enterprises commenced over that period and he told us that, since this Estimate was last discussed, the number of industrial workers employed had risen from 184,000 to 206,000. These figures show that the trend of an increase in industrial employment has been maintained to a very satisfactory degree during the past 12 months. In addition, the Minister has been able to show that, during the 12 months we are discussing, at least 60 new industrial enterprises went into operation. That again is no mean achievement. At least 60 new lines of production have commenced work in this part of Ireland, providing employment, producing goods and distributing money, under a Government which has the entire confidence of the people.
More important still, these 60 new industrial enterprises have not been, as they might well have been, concentrated in any one part of the country. I was interested to note that these industrial projects have gone into production in counties Carlow, Cavan, Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kildare, Laoighis, Leitrim, Longford, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Tipperary, Waterford, Westmeath, Wexford and Wicklow. I only wish that we had our outstanding Six Counties with us in the face of that achievement. That shows that steady progress is being made towards achieving the aim of this Government, not merely to maintain but to step up industrial production and to ensure that such industry shall be decentralised throughout the country.
I think all Parties and Deputies supporting this Government recognise that the great evil of emigration, apart from any historical background it may have, has its source in the fact that, in many parts of this country, there is not and has not been for a number of years, any constant source of employment to attract people and to ensure them a decent means of livelihood. Seasonal employment has been provided in different parts of the country under different schemes but there never has been a real effort to provide constant employment as a result of some nationwide drive or programme. While we can appreciate the reasons for emigration there is no one on those benches who can be complacent about that problem as long as it remains unsolved. While we are only discussing a short period and special phase of this problem, we can nevertheless see in the affairs of the Department we are discussing a part of the drive that is being made to provide that constant employment, not merely in the cities, but throughout the length and breadth of this country. I would like to congratulate the Minister on the story which the figures he has given tell the House and the country.
Might I also say that it must be a source of some gratification to the Minister to be able to tell the House that the Industrial Development Authority which was so viciously attacked by Deputy Seán Lemass, which was so maligned by every member of his Party, not so very long ago in this House has even in the short space of time of its existence given complete and absolute evidence of its work, merit and real value to the country.
I note that the Minister was able to say that apart altogether from the industrial enterprises and projects that have been put into operation members of that authority have visited over 60 factories in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland as well as in different parts of this country and outside it. They visited those factories not merely for the purpose of comparing modes of production but also for the purpose of encouraging those interested to produce here at home some of the things which are being produced in England. I am glad that the Minister can state that the efforts of that authority established in the teeth of the Fianna Fáil Party's opposition has ensured in less that 12 months the production here of many lines of commodities never before manufactured in Ireland. I think that that progress, that achievement, in less than 12 months, constitutes the complete answer to the vicious propaganda that tried to spread a feeling of panic regarding the industrial policy of this Government. Everybody, be he employer or worker, is now assured that under this Government no effort will be spared to ensure that industrial production here will have the goodwill and benevolence of the Government and that the Irish producer producing a decent article and providing decently for his workers may operate here under safe and proper conditions.
While that phase of the activities of the Minister's Department has been a welcome one, I think there are certain matters regarding our industrial life in the last 12 months that should be mentioned in this House. I, for one, observed with a certain dismay the development here in the last 12 months of the unofficial strike. That is an unwelcome development and one which may cause considerable danger to the country. I am sure that the Minister is alive to that problem and I welcome the Tánaiste's recent speech about the same problem. It would indeed be a very serious thing for our industrial drive and for the country itself if the workers engaged in industry ceased to be organised with regard to pay and conditions, but I only hope that that development will not recur and I trust it is a problem which the Minister will keep before his mind. As other Deputies have pointed out, we have had the usual double dealing from the Opposition; we have had the usual effort to play two or three tunes on the same screechy pipe. Reference has been made to Deputy McGrath's condemnation of the increase in bus fares although that increase has been clamoured for by his Deputy Leader in this House for a considerable time.
A considerable amount of space has been given by the Opposition to the question of the price of rationed and unrationed goods. The usual plea has been made that the Government, by providing an off-the-ration price for tea, sugar, butter or any other commodity is, in effect, being unfair to the poorer man, the poorer section of the community, in favour of the richer man and the richer section of the community. That is the type of argument that can easily be made and that might possibly go down well with people listening to it until they examined it and recollected the type of policy operated by the Opposition when they were in power. It is not three years since the Fianna Fáil Government, for the purpose—as they claim now—of providing a subsidy for rationed tea, sugar, butter, etc., introduced and passed through the House the Supplementary Budget imposing the taxation which has already been referred to on beer, tobacco, cigarettes and cinema seats. They claimed that that was fair government, wise government, in the interests of all sections of the community; but let us examine what that meant even assuming that the money to be collected from the taxes on beer, tobacco and the other articles was to subsidise tea, sugar and butter.
Even assuming that was the case, it meant that in order to subsidise the rationed commodity for rich and poor alike, the Fianna Fáil Government taxed the poor because the tax on beer, tobacco and other rationed commodities was a tax which fell largely on the poorer sections of the community. In order to provide the rationed lb. of tea for the rich at the subsidised prices, the Fianna Fáil Government imposed a burden of taxation upon the poor. This Government has wiped out these emergency taxes and has provided in assistance to subsidy for the rationed supplies of tea, sugar, butter and flour a method of double pricing. If the machinery motivating the policy of this Government is examined, it will be found that those who can afford to pay an economic price for tea, sugar, butter and flour—that is, the richer sections of the community—now assist and help in subsidising the ration for all. Because of the policy of this Government, therefore, it is the richer sections of the community who are now helping to maintain the subsidy and not, as under the Fianna Fáil Government, the poorer sections. I will be prepared at any time to accept the judgment and decision of any fair-minded section of our people as to which is the better Government and which acts in the interests of the greater number. I think the sanity of the Government's policy in that direction can be clearly recognised and is appreciated by the people in general.
In addition to Fianna Fáil opposition, we have had criticism of certain aspects of the Minister's policy. We have had a plea, certainly from Deputy Colley, amongst others, that we on these benches should not be too hard on them. When they make speeches suggesting that the nation is not creditworthy and that the people have no confidence in the industrial policy of this Government, we are told we should not accuse them of sabotage. I could not follow Deputy Colley's complaint in that direction, but he did complain. I hope that Deputy Colley will appreciate that, if the Opposition are really sincerely concerned with the interests of the country and not merely with their own political fortunes, Deputy Colley and the other members of his Party might well go out to-night and tear down the poster up in Donnybrook, and on other Allen boards throughout the city, suggesting that this Government's policy is putting our country and our future into pawn. That poster, with its pawnbroker's sign in gilt, is obviously intended to be seen by those who have money to invest. It could only affect those who have money to invest: "Do not invest your money in Ireland; do not give your money to an Irish Government; invest it in England, or send it abroad."