asked the Minister for Finance if he is aware of the annoyance caused to the organisers of the recent annual general meeting in Dublin of the National Union of Seamen by the customs authorities in relation to the importation of conference badges, rule books and other conference gear; and if steps will be taken to facilitate the importation free of duty and formalities of like material for future conferences.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Import of Conference Material.
21.
I must reject the suggestion that the customs were in any way responsible for causing annoyance to the organisers of the meeting referred to by the Deputy. On the contrary the customs staff at Dún Laoghaire and at the Custom House went out of their way to facilitate them.
Basic requirements such as filling up the appropriate entry forms, obtaining a duty-free licence for certain items and providing security for the duty on other items were not attended to by the importers before the material arrived on 10th May even though the procedure had been explained to them in writing beforehand. After the matter had again been carefully explained to them the importers set about doing what was necessary and in this they were guided and assisted at all stages by the customs staff.
All the material was released on 11th May, four days before the conference was due to begin.
It is our policy to waive payment of duty, as far as possible, on goods being imported for use at conferences of this sort. Where the goods come within the scope of the international convention on the subject, they are granted exemption from duty and in other cases duty-free licences are issued. The application of these procedures in the present case enabled a large quantity of conference material comprising some 40 different classes of goods, including rule books, to be imported without payment of duty, the only exceptions being badges and ball-point pens. In the case of these two items the ordinary provisions authorising the issue of duty-free licences did not apply and duty was, therefore, correctly charged.
I should add that a general review of licensing provisions is being carried out at present as a result of which we should be able to avoid this sort of difficulty in the future.
Apart from that, I am satisfied that the facilities for the importation of conference material are adequate.
Is the Minister aware that in the course of an interview with a Radio Éireann reporter, the secretary of the National Union of Seamen said that the obstacles and difficulties put in their way by the customs authorities were such as to discourage them, or other conference holders, from ever holding conferences in Ireland? Having regard to this, would the Minister ensure that the minimum of red tape and ceremonial is applied-in future to people who have organised conferences in Ireland and who are bringing to it the various conference kits they want, including badges and other material?
I am not aware that such a statement was made and if it was made, it was completely incorrect and without foundation in fact. If any difficulty arose, it was through the neglect of the organisers of the conference to make very simple arrangements which are pointed out to people in advance.
It would be preferable not to require these people to fill in forms and schedules in advance in relation to perfectly small articles such as ball-point pens and badges. The position in relation to badges arose because they were classified as imitation jewellery although they were only little bits of metal to be worn during the conference. With a little bit of commonsense, all the difficulty would have been avoided.
A little bit of commonsense on the part of the organisers would have been very appropriate. In fact, the organisers and officials concerned admitted to our customs officials that their own secretariat had apparently slipped up in not making the applications.
That would be a normal plea in a case of difficulty.
Everybody slipped up except us.