asked the Minister for Finance if he will state whether currency will or has been made available to importers for the purchase of tinned and preserved foodstuffs expected to be imported shortly from the U.S.S.R.; if he will give details of amounts of currency that have been allocated by his Department in respect of purchases of merchandise, from countries behind the iron curtain that has not yet been actually imported; and, further, if he will state the descriptions of these goods.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Imports of Foodstuffs from Russia.
Applications by importers for exchange facilities for the purchase of tinned foodstuffs from the U.S.S.R. have been approved as there are at present no foreign exchange grounds for refusing such facilities.
The exchange facilities granted to traders in the current quarter to date for these and other imports from countries under Communist rule are as follows:—
|
£ |
|
|
Fertilisers and chemicals |
225,000 |
|
Timber |
91,000 |
|
Foodstuffs |
73,000 |
|
Miscellaneous goods |
10,000 |
The records of my Department do not enable me to give details of the extent to which goods covered by the exchange allocations have or have not yet been imported.
Might I ask the Minister whether he has inquired into the fact that the tinned foodstuffs can be obtained elsewhere and if he has given consideration to that when allocating the currency?
Will he further inquire whether this is tinned fish which is brought in to compete with the fish caught by our own fishermen?
As to the question of exchange, we receive applications from private individuals and if they do not get it to buy direct they can get the goods through England, and the only result would be to give the British go-between an extra profit. As the Deputy can see, the amounts involved in this are small in comparison with 1950 when £3,000,000 was so spent in those countries.
Can the Minister inform the House what is the nature of the tinned preserved foodstuffs? Are they apples, or pears or fish?
Miscellaneous foodstuffs.
I would not eat Russian fish.
I would not put it past him. The Deputy said once that he would not salute the Irish flag.