asked the Minister for Finance if he is aware that the delph and cutlery in the new restaurant in the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries are British manufactured; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Department of Agriculture Restaurant Equipment.
101.
Mr. Kenny
The normal practice in fitting out Civil Service canteens has been to utilise Irish manufactured goods as far as possible. In the particular case of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries canteen the initial supplies of delph and cutlery were mainly of British manufacture.
The delph required, a hotel ware specially resistant to chipping and breaking, is not manufactured in Ireland.
Suitable cutlery is made here but, unfortunately, sufficient quantities could not be obtained in the time available and an initial supply of British manufacture was purchased to get the canteen under way.
A further quantity of cutlery was supplied to the canteen recently and this was purchased from an Irish manufacturer.
It appears to me that this is becoming a policy of the present Government and then they come up with excuses. We recently had a similar case with the Department of Posts and Telegraphs. Would the Parliamentary Secretary convey the displeasure of this House at this type of approach? Surely there were ways around the situation if the orders had been placed in time?
Mr. Kenny
The Deputy is reechoing my sentiments, but I will tell him the full story. I make it a point, whenever we have anything to do with the matter of supplying equipment, that it should be of Irish manufacture, but the delph and cutlery for the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries canteen could not be ordered until a canteen committee had been appointed and consulted. The delph selected by the committee was ironstone hotel ware which is a very resilient ware, resistant to chipping and breaking. Hotel ware of the type required is not manufactured in Ireland but the supplies were purchased from an Irish firm. At this stage a canteen committee and the staff were appointed. There was a staff there but there was no equipment and the equipment required could not be supplied in time by an Irish manufacturer. Therefore, we had to get some of the equipment through an Irish distributor from England. Otherwise the staff would have been there with no equipment doing nothing.
Surely it should have been possible for the Department to order cutlery in advance? I cannot see the difficulty about giving an advance order.
Mr. Kenny
The difficulty happened in putting the cart before the horse. The canteen committee were appointed and they appointed staff and this staff had no equipment with which to work. The canteen, the staff and the employees in that particular building would have been there without any supplies.
Surely the Parliamentary Secretary will agree that this is a case of the Department putting the cart before the horse?
Mr. Kenny
There is a canteen committee, just as we have a restaurant committee here.
I assume the Parliamentary Secretary will agree with me that a necessary part of any canteen is the cutlery and other equipment. This could have been ordered irrespective of whether the committee was set up and the staff recruited.
Mr. Kenny
Who would order it?
The Department, of course.
We cannot have arguments across the floor of the House at Question Time.
Surely the ordering of cutlery is a simple matter?
Mr. Kenny
The type of cutlery required was not available.