I am very glad and, indeed, pleasantly surprised to hear from the Minister that the factory is now in a position to meet the entire requirements of the home market. That is certainly news to quite a number of people, and as far as I am concerned it is pleasant news. I would like, however, to be absolutely assured that this does not mean that the volume of output is equal or more than equal to the volume or quantity of moquette used in the country irrespective of the various qualities and prices. It is not much use to us to be told, for instance, that their output in respect to the higher priced moquette is adequate to meet the home demands in respect of that particular quality. Furniture is not only an essential requirement, but furniture-making is one of our most important industries. There is no question about that. It is widely spread throughout the country and, I think, gives a pretty large volume of employment. While we want to ensure, as far as possible, that the raw materials required for furniture-making and finishing are produced within the country, at the same time we have, of course, to be careful that we are not taking steps that may impact adversely on a very important existing industry. Goodness knows, furniture nowadays is expensive enough for the ordinary person without it being made more expensive. I do not want to be taken as suggesting that when this factory gets into production, and is put into a position of having almost guaranteed to it the entire home market, it will take advantage of that for the purposeof charging higher prices than it should.
What I really got up to say was that I am not at all satisfied that in order to have some technical difficulty resolved for the Revenue Commissioners, we have to put plush, which we are not making and which we do not intend to make, on an import licence basis. I am very strongly against that. I think it is a serious step to take. I am not satisfied that some other method to enable the Revenue Commissioners to solve their difficulty in this matter as between plush and moquette could not be found. I do not think that we should make it more troublesome to import plush if we do not propose to make it ourselves. I would ask the Minister to take another look at that. I know there are difficulties very often concerning those matters that it is not easy for the Minister to put entirely before the House but I think he will agree with me that it is not desirable, if it can be avoided, merely for a technical reason to have this arrangement.