asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the total amount by way of advertising spent to-date by his Department on information about the EEC; and what the advertising budget will be for the next six months.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Membership of EEC.
11.
The total amount spent to date in respect of advertising information material on the European Communities published by my Department has been £492. It is estimated that a further £15,000 will be spent in the current financial year on the advertising of such material.
I asked the Minister for the figure for the next six months.
That is all that has been allocated so far.
Surely the budget for the next six months has been planned by now.
It is in course of preparation now.
And the Minister cannot give me the figure?
It is not finalised yet.
When will it be finalised?
I cannot say at the moment. I am concerned with the actual moneys allocated, £15,500, in the current financial year.
Surely it should be possible to know what advertising will cost in the next six months.
It is contingent on circumstances.
Surely the Department have a good idea by this time. Surely there is some comparative figure in existence.
This is the basic figure to 31st March.
Surely the Minister is not telling the House he has no idea of the upward trend.
There will be no lack of money for the purpose of giving the public all the additional information.
We are not talking about the allocation now. We are talking about the referendum.
Are we to take it that this is the amount provided and that the referendum will take place before that date?
If additional funds are required to maintain the proper level of information these funds will be made available.
Does that include the total spent on the referendum?
This is entirely irrelevant. Surely the Deputy appreciates that.
Would advertising include wall posters and other paraphernalia associated with elections?
Deputy O'Leary is reducing this very serious national issue to a very facetious level. This tends to be the case with Labour Party spokesmen here, on television and elsewhere.
I suggest it is about time we had a little humour from the benches opposite. All we have is gory tragedy every day of the week.
Is this for newspaper advertising?
It is strictly information to the public.
Is it newspaper advertising only?
Information in the form of pamphlets. We are concerned with giving the public the facts on which they can make their mature decision.
They would want to make a few mature decisions on you some time in the near future.
We will always meet that one.
(Interruptions.)
The Chair will not permit any more of these interruptions.
I have received all the documentation so far and I suggest it might be published in a more coherent fashion instead of the almost unintelligible documents we have received. I refer to the three pamphlets and the four leaflets published.
I do not agree with the Deputy, but I will bring the Deputy's point of view to the notice of those responsible.
12.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs what steps he intends taking to inform households throughout the country of the implications of Common Market membership for Ireland and if he will give an assurance that any material sent out to households will give the disadvantages as well as the advantages of membership of the community.
Information material on the European Communities and the implications of membership for Ireland is already being made available to the public by my Department and it is proposed to make further information available in the coming months. The facts relating to our proposed membership of the Communities are being, and will be placed fully before the public in this material.
Is it the Minister's intention to send material through the post?
That is not intended so far. We hope to have sufficient information distributed to enable people to make a decision properly, but that is not envisaged at the moment.
Is it intended to give exact details of the cost of food prices in the Community?
Yes, everything will be properly and fairly quantified.
13.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the likely effect of EEC membership on mining on Ireland's continental shelf in the Atlantic Ocean.
We do not expect that Ireland's accession to the European Communities will materially effect the present position in regard to mineral exploration and development in our continental shelf area.
Is it not the case that the Community are considering proposals which might result in freedom of access for other member countries to the minerals on the continental shelves of Ireland, France and other countries with continental shelves?
We do not as of now discriminate in our legislation between nationals and non-nationals so there is—I hate using this phrase— no problem in regard to our accession to Europe in this respect.
If we found valuable minerals on our continental shelf we might wish to obtain some benefit for Ireland from them. Is it not possible that if a policy of completely free access was adopted by the Community we would not be free to do that? What representations have the Government made in this matter?
We have already adopted a free attitude under the Continental Shelf Act, 1968, in regard to issuing licences for exploration in the areas mentioned by the Deputy, so there is really no change as far as we are concerned in this matter.
Going from one option to another.