We have this matter of price increases. The Minister in his speech referred to prices in general and his action in withstanding price increases. He will have quite a problem at the end of this month when we have the quarterly figures of the consumer price index published. From what one can gather from the reactions of the general public in regard to their purchases in the past few weeks there has been a fantastic increase in prices arising mainly from the Budget. While the Minister apparently hopes for an improvement in industrial relations in the months ahead, believing that such a setting would provide the best future for ordinary industrial development, it is doubtful if we shall have this harmony in the next few months in view of the fantastic increase in prices in the past few weeks.
There was a mysterious announcement in the Evening Press, I think, a fortnight ago that the Department's inspectors were examining these price increases. When we raised the matter at that time with the Minister for Industry and Commerce he said he was not aware then of a sufficient volume of complaints. I do not know where the general public complain about price increases but I suggest they should notify the Minister about the increases which are undoubtedly taking place. One of the duties of the Department is consumer protection and many people have taken the opportunity of the Budget to notch up goods more than the 2½ per cent provided for in the Budget. The disappearance of the halfpenny helped in price increases over a wide range of commodities. As we explained in outlining our attitude to the Budget and, as the Minister knows, the price increases chiefly affect the lower-paid people, those with whom Government policy is supposedly most concerned.
Price increases certainly exist and I hope that when the Minister comes to reply to this debate in three or four weeks' time he will have some information about what he proposes to do in regard to these price increases.
As regards our preparation for free trade, industrial expansion and so on, the quality of our management is of great importance and quite an amount of taxpayers' money is paid out to the Irish Management Institute which runs many different seminars in an effort to improve the quality of Irish management. Traditionally, our management lagged behind many other countries and since we are poor in resources it is important that our management should be the best possible. The Irish Management Institute have been doing very effective work in this field. Likewise the trade unions, with less cash and less assistance from the taxpayers, have been attempting to educate their own members at factory level and otherwise. If the Minister looks forward to improved industrial relations permitting foreign capital to come in to an area where relations are good between employers and employees he must consider, in his tours around the country, especially at some of the lunch time meetings he has from time to time when opening factories and so on, mentioning to employers the desirability of bringing employees into greater participation in running work-places.
The last Ard-Fhéis devoted one page, I think, to the North of Ireland and two to the "nefarious" doctrine being preached then by the Labour Party and its ideas on work democracy but I suggest the Minister should read our policy on industrial democracy and see whether in the right circumstances he could speak on this theme when addressing industrialists. He does not often take the opportunity of addressing workers. It would be a welcome change if one of these days the Minister for Industry and Commerce at the opening of a new factory was seen in the canteen eating with the employees rather than in the upper room with the management. I suggest to all Government Ministers that they should do a little more eating or having lunch with workers when invited out for the opening of factories and so on and that they should associate more directly with those who create the wealth in these factories rather than seeming to be so concerned with the owners of these factories. I suggest that the Minister for Industry and Commerce, in whatever time he has left in this job, might as well make a dramatic impact. His work will be confined to that and I suggest it would be a good thing to see the Minister for Industry and Commerce lunching with the workers.
The Minister says that industrial adaptation is a continuing need. Until the reports on industrial progress are complete we do not know how much adaptation has changed the state of readiness of Irish industry for free trade. I recommend the Minister to hurry up these reports which were first ordered two years ago. The matter is urgent now and we are still waiting. Admittedly, we had one report on the clothing industry last week but there are very many other sectors on which reports are still awaited. The Minister should concern himself with these reports and ensure that they are ready as soon as possible and that they are given full consideration by the interests involved when published.
We have a tradition, it appears to me, of having a surplus of reports and we had the example of the NIEC to show how few people read these reports. I hope that as the reports on industry come out, their message will be relayed back to both sides of industry, management and employees, and that the Department will take corrective measures where necessary.
In his Estimate speech the Minister talks about the necessity to change mental attitudes. I am more than sceptical about the moral rearmament approach to our entry to the Common Market, this emphasising of the need to change our mental attitudes. The fashion that has grown up recently of assuming that all the difficulties that occur are confined to the question of attitudes. There is more to it than that. The Minister could ensure that when these reports are published they are fully discussed by all interests involved and that proper corrective measures are taken. Let it be seen not to be a question of simply changing mental attitudes.
What are the corrective measures that must be taken? Has the Minister any answer to the question of the firm that is apparently not very interested in a future which will be more difficult than the past? What measures can he take, for example, if the report suggests that one whole area of industry is weak, an area where no adequate preparation has been made? Does the Minister's Department see that it has a role at present where industry so fails a community? With our negotiators commencing this work, if there are areas of industry covering a number of employees in which proper precautions have not been taken or in which people are not interested in gearing themselves for free trade, the Minister must consider what is the appropriate action in such cases. If the reports on industrial progress suggest that adequate preparation has not been made, the matter should not be allowed to rest there. If there is lack of co-operation on the part of management the Minister must take the initiative and consult trade union employees in the industries concerned. We cannot allow management, by default, to allow the employment position to run down.
Notice taken that 20 Members were not present; House counted, and 20 Members being present,
