asked the Minister for Industry, Commerce and Energy if the present "Buy Irish" campaign is meeting the target set last year and if the campaign is under review to make it more effective.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - “Buy Irish” Campaign.
9.
The programme for the promotion of Irish goods and services has run only nine months of its three-year course. Indications are that, in general, it is having a beneficial impact. An initial assessment of the programme in relation to the target set should most appropriately be based on the effect of a one-year period. Consequently, it is intended that an assessment will be carried out early next year and the programme will be reviewed in the light of this. In addition the Irish Goods Council constantly review the effectiveness of the publicity and promotion measures they employ.
On the basis of progress so far, that is, if there has been progress, is the Minister satisfied that we are on target in respect of the objective of switching 3 per cent of consumer purchase to Irish goods?
These are early days yet to make an assessment as to whether we are on target. Personally, I am very satisfied with the reaction of the general public and of the business sector in their support so far for Irish goods and services.
Has the Minister made any assessment so far of the worsening terms-of-trade situation and is this situation taken into account in his review of the programme so far? The September figures show a very sharp increase in the purchase of foreign goods.
I am satisfied with the situation to the extent that results published by the Irish Goods Council show that for the first time in four years the growth rate of imports has decreased right across the board. I am pleased particularly with the effect in the entire food sector into which the main effort has been put and in respect of which tremendous co-operation has been received from the various supermarket chains and food manufacturers in Ireland. This has been one of the dramatic results of the campaign but the programme is a three-year one and it is too early yet to assume that we have reached our target. If the target could have been reached within nine or ten months the programme would have been geared to such a period but it is a three-year programme.
Is not the Minister talking the most arrant nonsense about progress because what has happened has been that the percentage share of imports for domestic consumption increased during the first nine months of Fianna Fáil Government by the full 3 per cent, the full extent by which they were supposed to decrease during a three-year period? In these circumstances how can the Minister talk about progress? Is he prepared to examine the statistics of the imports of consumer goods, not total imports, and relate these to total sales in order to establish for himself the veracity of what I have stated?
The Government in setting out this programme asked specially that it would be a community programme. It is regrettable that there is not some positive help from the other side of the House instead of the type of destructive criticism that we had from the Leader of the Opposition during the Adjournment Debate in the summer and an example of which we are having again today.
Is it destructive criticism to draw attention to the failure of a campaign to make progress when it is vital that that campaign be successful and when it is obvious that it needs to be modified?
We are getting into the realm of argument.
The Minister has emphasised that the programme is for three years but has told us that there will be some assessment during the first year. What form will this review take? Will it be in the form, for instance, of a statement or of a publication?
If the Deputy would like to table a question in that regard in about six months time I should be happy to let him have the result of the review.
Can the Minister recall any period since the foundation of the State when the share of imports of consumer goods has risen as rapidly as has been the case during the past year?
That is not relevant.
The Deputy would need to table a separate question in that regard.
10.
asked the Minister for Industry, Commerce and Energy if he will, in conjunction with the campaign under way to promote the use of Irish products, seek to have Irish food and beverages used exclusively by semi-State bodies, particularly Aer Lingus.
I am satisfied that semi-State bodies are fully aware of the benefits of using Irish-produced food and drink and that they, including Aer Lingus, do this to the maximum extent possible.
It is not possible, under the terms of our EEC commitments, to direct that Irish food and drinks be used by semi-State bodies to the exclusion of similar products from other Community sources.
Has the Minister said that he is satisfied with the efforts of Aer Lingus and other semi-State bodies in this respect?
Yes.
Is the Minister aware that on a recent continental flight out of Dublin by Aer Lingus orange juice from Dusseldorf, jam from London and biscuits manufactured in New York and packed in the Federal Republic of Germany were served? Does he consider that indicative of support by a semi-State body for the "Buy Irish" campaign?
It would be interesting if the Deputy were to relate the items he has just mentioned to the total carriage of goods and total consumption on that aeroplane. We all read the same report. It is very easy to jibe at semi-State bodies. Once again I should like to record that they have been doing an excellent job. As far as the biscuits are concerned, there are various hygiene regulations and controls that Aer Lingus try to adhere to. So far they have failed to find any company in Ireland prepared to wrap the biscuits in the manner they want. As far as the orange juice is concerned, a similar situation obtained. But I am happy to say that Aer Lingus have found a company hoping to go into production within the next three or four months who will be able to supply their needs in this respect. The jam and milk served on the aeroplane in question were Irish. Surely we are not going to reduce this whole programme to the petty level of individually wrapped biscuits?
(Interruptions.)
I do not know whether it was confusion or not, but did I understand the Minister to say the jam served on that flight was Irish? The jam was definitely from London. Did I also understand him to say that the reason Irish biscuits were not used was that they had not the proper facilities for packing them? While there may not have been the means of packing those biscuits here does the Minister consider it necessary to have had them manufactured in New York and packed in the Federal Republic of Germany?
Perhaps the Minister should talk to his Senatorial colleague about that.
Would it be fair to assume that the integrity of the "Buy Irish" campaign which the Minister is carrying out could be gauged also by the fact that even in the restaurant in this House the food is not even of Irish origin? I would ask him to check that one out.
That should hit the headlines for the Deputy tomorrow.
If the Minister did something about it it might hit the headlines too.
The level of the Opposition can be gauged by a leader who questions a "Buy Irish" campaign on the basis of a sachet of milk used on an Aer Lingus plane.