I have mixed feelings about the Minister's reply to the arguments I made. The Minister has, in fact, conceded, I think, that what I am saying is true, that there is need for the protection of the purchasers of motor cars. He may give that a grandiose title of consumer protection and say that there is need for consumer protection. There is need for it and, in fact, the only reason why he would not accept this amendment was that it would, perhaps, not tie in with agreements he has negotiated with the car assemblers and manufacturers in this country, and which the Bill is designed to give effect to.
If the Minister were to say: "It is not entirely absolute on this Bill to impose those conditions but I will introduce legislation along those lines" it certainly would have achieved a great deal. The Minister for Industry and Commerce recently in the Dáil said that what he wanted to see, and I think I am quoting him correctly, was a strong and virile Opposition. I would be quite happy if the Minister were to make available facilities from his Department to sponsor a Bill dealing with this area of commercial activity.
Mind you, the total amount of money spent on the purchase of cars in this country in any one year must be several times the amount of money that is spent, say, on the purchase of dishwashers, fridges, television sets and so on. Therefore, because there is so much money involved, it is absolutely necessary and desirable that the purchasers of those goods should be protected. The Minister says, and I am glad to see he lends the authority of his office to this, that the guarantee document, not fraudulent from the point of facturers is, in fact, a fraudulent document, not fraudulent from the point of view of the criminal law but certainly fraudulent as we all understand it. I do not want to put into the Minister's mouth that he says that it is fraudulent but what the Minister lends his authority to is that the signing of this document gives the people who sign it a great deal less protection than they are entitled to under the Sale of Goods Act or, if they are buying a car on hire purchase, less protection than under the Hire Purchase Act, 1946.
I hope this goes forth from this place and that the people around the country realise that they should stop signing this document. I hope the Press and the other media will give the utmost publicity to that. I do not understand why the Minister is so reluctant to accept this amendment because what he would be putting in it is something that all manufacturers and assemblers of motor cars in this country would readily subscribe to. I am sure they all profess that they produce motor vehicles of quality. I would ask the Minister to impose certain conditions relating to quality of manufactured motor vehicles. I am sure they would all agree with this and would say that Irish manufacturers, Irish assemblers and the skill of Irish workers produce excellent cars. While assemblers, let it be said, and I do not want to repeat Senator Nash's experience, in turn I am sure are bound by certain stipulations in contracts with the British, the parent companies, the only way in which we can get over the garage man's difficulties, the agent's difficulties, the assembler's difficulties, is to have it stipulated that we are not going to put up with that kind of thing in this country. If the Irish market is of any value to the British manufacturers, then the Irish Government should clearly indicate in its legislation that it will not stand for these things, that it will prohibit them; and thereafter we will find that French and Italian manufacturers in order to comply with the local law will rearrange their contracts accordingly.
I see no reason why the Minister should not readily get the consent of the manufacturers to prohibit the issue of, or the publication of, or requiring the signature of any purchaser to, a document which is misleading or is likely to mislead. That is to guarantee. All people might not be familiar with section 14, not even some lawyers. The Minister agrees with it because they have less protection than they would otherwise have. I cannot see if the Minister has discussion with motor manufacturers that he would not get their agreement to dropping this. He would get the support of the Irish consumers and the consumers in other countries with appropriate guarantees and warranties for the goods they sold.
I do not propose to delay the House any longer on this amendment except to say that I hope the Minister, if some of us should consider sponsoring the Bill, might consider providing some assistance—and this might annoy Senator Ó Maoláin who sometimes regards it as banshee wailing. Unfortunately, we have not sufficient time to do the research that is necessary into this kind of document which one would like to. I would be glad to know that the Minister's Department or the Department of Justice would lend assistance to Senators to get at this evil, sharp practice that is going on.