Sin é an méid atá le rá agamsa ar an gceist sin, agus sílim gur leor san.
It was heartening to many of us during the past year to observe the efforts of the Minister for Industry and Commerce towards progress in Irish industry. I followed his speeches with great interest and, if I might say so, with great sympathy because I realise what tremendous uphill work it is for any Minister— and this goes for the present Minister's predecessor too—to put into the people of this country a proper enthusiasm with regard to our industrial development here and supporting Irish industry generally. It seems that a lot of work has yet to be put into our industrial drive here. One would feel sometimes that the Minister would have to go nearly so far as to get a mallet to hammer into the heads of our people that it is in their own interests to support Irish industry in every possible way. The odd thing about it is that the industrialists themselves—and I mean "industrialists" in the broad sense, people engaged in business and industry— show an extraordinary want of enthusiasm. If these people who are most closely concerned from the selfish point of view would only approach the question of the industrial revival properly the Minister's job would not be half as difficult as it is. I am sure that the Minister in his efforts often felt disheartened at the poor response he got from people from whom he would expect a good response, people who, one would think, should need no push at all.
I had an experience not so many months ago and I think it would be well to relate it—although there are few people here who are showing a lively interest in the debate—because it will show the attitude of some of our industrial firms to the question of articles of Irish manufacture.
Some time ago I wanted to get a big bottle of jet black ink and I went into one of the big stationery shops here in Dublin. I was offered a bottle of "Parker Jet Black", as I think it was called. I said to the assistant: "I want a bottle of Irish ink." She told me first that she did not know if there was any Irish jet black ink made. I said: "I think there is. If you inquire you will find that jet black ink is made in Ireland." I said I would come back next week and that I was sure she would have a bottle for me. She promised that she would. I called back the following week and the assistant who was there then did not know whether an inquiry had been made as to whether or not a bottle of Irish jet black ink was available. I decided to go further about it and I went to another of the big stationery shops in Dublin and asked for a bottle of jet black ink. I was there presented with a bottle of "Swan Documentary". I said to the assistant: "Look, could I have a bottle of Irish ink?" I was told no, they only stocked "Swan Documentary". "Well," I said, "I think that is odd, but however I will go further." I went to a third stationery shop and asked for a bottle of ink. I was again offered a bottle of "Swan Documentary". I said: "Look, I want a bottle of Irish jet black ink", and I was told by the assistant in this particular shop that although they themselves manufactured ink they were just out of their own jet black ink at the time but that they would be able to let me have a bottle during the coming week.
I asked: "Why do you not stock Irish ink when you are out of your own?" and I did not get a very satisfactory explanation. I went to a fourth shop, having got the bit between my teeth by this time, and I asked for a bottle of jet black ink. The assistant there offered me a bottle of "Waterman's Midnight Black". I said to him: "Look, I want a bottle of Irish ink." And he told me that they had not jet black Irish ink. I said to him: "I think this is a shame. This is the fourth big shop in Dublin which I have visited looking for a bottle of Irish jet black ink and in each one of them I have been offered a bottle of English or imported jet black ink. In each case I have failed to get a bottle of jet black ink made in Ireland." He told me that he, too, thought it was a shame. I then pointed out to him that he was an employee of an Irish industrial concern depending upon the business which the people of Dublin and the people of Ireland gave to that firm for his livelihood and yet in a small matter of that kind I was unable to get from him an Irish-made article. It would not be quite fair if I did not finish the story. He promised he would get me a bottle of this jet black ink and post it to me, and I am glad to say that he succeeded in this, and that it was a very excellent ink indeed. I do not think it would be right to start advertising the particular ink in this House, but in any event I can say that it is an excellent production and as good as any of the imported stuff. I do hope that my small efforts in this matter in those four shops will do something to help the Minister in his drive to get people interested in themselves and foster Irish industry in such a way that they themselves will reap the benefit.
I have had a number of complaints about Irish sparking plugs. I think that most of the Deputies here who drive cars will agree with my experience that the Irish sparking plugs supplied in the cars here are as good as the Lodge or Champion plugs which many of the garage people invite buyers of new cars to get. I have had a very satisfactory experience with Irish sparking plugs in my own car. I have been told fairy stories, as I believe them to be, about the miraculous change which drivers notice in their engines after throwing out the Irish and putting in Lodge or Champion plugs. It might be no harm if I said that I have driven 26,000 miles on the one set of Irish sparking plugs and not one of them has been removed from the engine since I got it. I think that is sufficient tribute to pay to them.
I should like the Minister to direct his attention so far as he can to the placing of worthwhile industries in the Irish-speaking areas. We would all agree that that would be well worth doing for many reasons which can be gone into on another Estimate and on which I do not intend to elaborate now. The Minister, however, should get the Industrial Development Authority to pay special interest to the Gaeltacht areas.
With regard to the question of newspapers and periodicals coming in here, I made an effort when the Estimate for the Department of Education was being discussed to raise the matter of imported newspapers and periodicals, and particularly Sunday newspapers. The Leas-Cheann Chomhairle at the time thought it was not the appropriate Estimate and, after a short discussion, I said I would raise it on the Industry and Commerce Estimate and now the opportunity has arrived. What I said with regard to these imported Sunday newspapers on that occasion was reported in the Press the following day and one result was that I got letters from quite a number of people who showed a very lively interest in the subject. One of those who wrote to me was Father Devane, S.J., who a short time before had written a booklet entitled The Imported Press, which sets out the case extremely well. Father Devane sent me a copy of that booklet and also wrote me a letter in which he said he regarded this matter of the imported Press as one of very great importance. I was, of course, very gratified to get a letter from Father Devane.
There is a rather odd situation with regard to restrictions on newspapers coming in here. The first odd feature is that Sunday newspapers come in here completely free of duty. What directed my attention to this matter, in the first instance, was the fact that, during a visit to Collinstown a few months ago on a Saturday evening, I saw three of the Aer Lingus planes with the passenger seats out being converted into cargo planes and I was told that every Saturday evening these three planes fly to Manchester and come back, each bringing three tons of British Sunday newspapers so as to be in time to meet the people coming out from Mass on Sunday morning, even down in Deputy Corry's constituency. I was more surprised when I heard that the Department of Industry and Commerce had not done something about restricting the import of these newspapers and putting a tariff on them.
The figures are interesting. I think all Deputies were supplied with this booklet of Father Devane's. I do not suppose that all Deputies read it, but it is very interesting reading. The position with regard to the import of these newspapers and periodicals is astonishing. It appears that under the Finance Act, 1932, a duty of a penny per copy was imposed upon all imported periodicals, wholly or mainly in the English language, with a preferential rate of three farthings in respect of periodicals from the British Commonwealth and the question to be asked about that preferential rate is: what happens the extra farthing? We know that the buyer of the periodical has to pay a penny more than the price of it, of which the Revenue Commissioners get three farthings.
The thing is not unimportant, because, according to the figures given by Father Devane in this booklet, figures which he got from the Revenue Commissioners, we imported, in 1947, 4,571,556 daily newspapers. The tax collected on that number of newspapers was £12,698, but the buyers of those papers paid an extra £6,439. I suggest to the Minister that if the tariff is to be operated as a revenue producing device he might make it the full penny. In that year, the Exchequer would have benefited to the extent of £6,300. These figures, I should say, relate to daily papers which are subject to a flat rate of two-third pence under the Finance Act, 1934. I was speaking in the first instance about periodicals, in respect of which the rate is a penny per copy, with a preferential rate of three farthings. In 1948, the import fell somewhat. The tax collected was £11,459 and the sellers of the papers or the importers got £5,729, because the buyers paid that amount in excess of the tax. In 1949 the figure had gone up to 5,335,020, which yielded a revenue to the tune of £14,819 and again somebody profited to the extent of £7,409 which seems to me ought to have gone to revenue. That is a total of £19,500, in three years. That is the position with regard to the daily newspapers.
On the figures given, again by Father Devane, in this booklet, for periodicals, we get some striking facts. In 1947 we imported 18,500,000 periodicals other than Sunday newspapers and daily newspapers. In 1948 we imported 19,500,000. In 1949 we imported almost 23,000,000. The tax with regard to these particular publications is one penny with preferential of three-farthings. In those three years the number of farthings which the sellers of these newspapers got, which should have gone to revenue was very great and made a total of £63,000.
I have left until last the Sunday newspapers. In 1947 we imported free of duty 15,704,988 Sunday newspapers. If these had been taxed at one penny each the yield would have been £65,500 practically. In 1948 the figure had gone up to 17,271,072 which, at a penny a newspaper, would have yielded a revenue of £71,962. In 1949 we imported free of duty 20,268,360 Sunday newspapers. A penny on each of these would have yielded £84,500.
It may be suggested that if a penny tax were put on these papers the number bought would be reduced, the people would not be prepared to pay the penny. It would be well worth trying. I am not so much interested in that aspect of the matter and I am sure the Minister is not either, as in the type of matter that is imported.
I pose this question: why were Sunday newspapers exempt in the first instance? There was a device used in the 1932 Finance Act for exempting imported Sunday newspapers from the tax which was put on periodicals and the dailies were brought into the picture in the 1934 Finance Act. All the time the Sunday newspapers were excluded. They got out of it in this way: there was an exemption in respect of those imported periodicals whose front page or cover exceeded 320 square inches. It was an easy matter for the newspapers to arrange and so they got in free of duty. All that time we had only one Sunday newspaper published in this country, from 1932 until recently, when the Sunday Press was published.
I may be wrong but I am wondering if the Minister's predecessor was not influenced by that fact. If he did put a prohibitive tariff on British Sunday newspapers, it would have the immediate effect of increasing the sales of the Sunday Independent. I hope I am wrong in that but if I am right I hope the Minister will not be actuated by the same motives and that, although we have now two Sunday newspapers, one of which is professedly antagonistic to the present Government, the Minister will not let that affect his mind. I press upon the Minister as strongly and as earnestly as I can that this is a matter to which he ought to direct his immediate attention. We have two Irish Sunday newspapers catering for people of every political point of view, one might say, in the present set-up in any event, and it would be a good thing if we had more. I do not see how our newspaper industry can prosper as it ought to prosper in face of the terrific onslaught by cross-Channel publishers. I am told that recently the Sunday Express opened an office opposite the Independent office and that they are making tremendous efforts to increase the circulation of the Sunday Express here.
It might not be a bad thing if I took up the time of this House in reading long extracts from Father Devane's booklet on the imported press but I do not intend to do that; but I certainly commend the booklet to Deputies who are interested in this very important branch of Irish industry, the newspaper industry and the publishing trade generally. This matter affects very seriously the position of Irish writers. Father Devane also made reference in his booklet to the very great number of children's papers that are being imported. Irish writers have a limited market and from a monetary point of view writing in Ireland is a poor profession which does not yield the livelihood that it ought to yield. It is the duty of the Minister for Industry and Commerce to ensure that these writers, who are people of merit, will be able to secure a decent livelihood in their own country.
The mass attack that is being made upon the business of writing, the business of publishing, the business of printing here, makes it impossible, almost, for our Irish writers and printers or publishers to develop in their own particular spheres. I know there is a multitude of problems facing the Minister for Industry and Commerce every day. I can see it would be almost impossible to expect one individual to give due attention to all the different problems of industry and commerce which will arise here. But, apart altogether from the purely material side of this question of the imported Press, there is the cultural side, there is the moral side.
I am not very well qualified to speak upon the type of Sunday newspaper that comes in here because, perhaps fortunately for myself, I am not living in a town and we have not got the same facilities where I go to Mass on Sunday for getting these papers as the people in the towns and cities have; the market just is not there for them and they do not come there. We have to rely upon the local newspapers and the Irish Sunday papers. If what I am told is true—and I believe it to be true —apart from the material aspect and apart from the effect on writers, publishers and printers, there is the moral aspect which, I submit, the Minister should take into consideration and give great attention to.
Strictly speaking, that should be, and I am sure it is in the Minister's mind, the more important aspect of the case. I do not want to take up the attitude of making a sermon about this, and I believe I have said enough to indicate what my views are. Looking at this question from any point of view, the absolute prohibition of these papers would be no loss to this country. I would, of course, make an exception with regard to publications of an educational or cultural kind, of a scientific kind, papers which have some value; but the stuff I am referring to now is the kind of paper that goes in for sensationalism; it is what we know as the Yellow Press, and I think there would be no dissentient voice when I say that it would be no loss to this country if the Minister put an absolute prohibition on their importation. Even if that did entail a slight loss in revenue, I believe nobody here would object.
Speaking in regard to industry generally, everybody recognises now that the days of laissez faire are gone. The Minister for Industry and Commerce must necessarily have his finger in the pie, so to speak, with regard to every industrial undertaking and industrial effort in this country. It is the same all over the world and I think I can fairly say this—and in so saying I have no intention or desire to flatter the Minister, and I use the word “flatter” in its literal sense—that since he took over the responsibilities of the Office of Minister for Industry and Commerce he has proved himself fully capable of handling the job. I am glad to say that he has made a good job of it. He has justified the experiment which was made and if he keeps going as he has been going and if he puts the same enthusiasm into his work as he has been putting, then he will serve Irish industry and commerce and he will serve Ireland well.
