I am glad that other Senators, notably Senator Dooge and Senator O'Mahony, have sought some elucidation on matters arising from this Bill because I found the text of the Bill very difficult to comprehend. Given the late date at which the text became available and the lack of an explanatory memorandum, that difficulty was compounded, though I must say that from what I have seen of explanatory memoranda they are frequently rather meaningless documents.
I share some of the doubts about the shipping arrangments which have been expressed by previous Senators. I understand that the need for the Bill is because there is need for legislation to authorise this kind of arrangement but I have difficulty in comprehending why it is necessary to change from the relatively straightforward earlier arrangements to the ones now being contemplated.
A point which is pertinent to raise is whether the people in Irish Shipping are satisfied with the new arrangements. That is rather important. One cannot but agree with the general proposition that the bulk carrier should be built in Verolme for Irish Shipping Limited. Any Corkman who disagreed with placing a contract with Verolme would not be very happy at the prospect of returning home. At the same time I must say, speaking as an absolute layman in these matters, I am mystified as to why the cost of building a bulk carrier should be so extravagantly greater in Verolme than would have been the case had Irish Shipping placed their contract on the open market.
I support what other Senators have said about Irish Shipping and their successes. Too often in this House we have to deplore the losses sustained by State companies. I remember particularly one painful occasion during the last Fianna Fáil administration when the Minister had to come before this House and outline the appalling losses sustained by one such company. It is good to listen to a success story and to reflect that the whole Irish Shipping success saga has been born out of our own experience as a State. It is very much a domestic achievement and an Irish achievement that we can be proud of. It may not be entirely inappropriate to recall that Irish Shipping were born out of our neutrality during World War II and of the very real struggle we had to keep everything ticking over while that policy was being successfully maintained and directed.
It is not an exaggeration to say that Irish Shipping were born of Winston Churchill's pugnacious antagonism to this country. At any rate it was, and remains, the application of the whole principle of self-reliance to an important area of the economy. It is applying sinn féin to the area of maritime commerce.
It is one of the things we did our way and did it well. The achievement has been all the more admirable in view of the fact that the maritime economy was not only an underdeveloped area for a maritime nation but an exploited area by the previous imperial Government. There is no doubt that one of the reasons we are backward in the whole area of maritime development is a colonial hangup and so the achievement is all the greater. One can only wish that other features of our economic personality were as successful.
One important thing to stress is the principle that State enterprise can be a success, that men and women working for the State can work with commitment. The opposite is often stated. People think that James Connolly was very naive when he said that in a future socialist Ireland men and women would derive the same satisfaction from working for the public good as they would for a private employer. People are still very cynical about that point of view but surely the essence of the success of Irish Shipping is the dedication of the men and women employed in the public service.
Senator Crowley, while praising Irish Shipping, seemed by implication to say that other companies were unsuccessful because they did not pay the same attention to enterprise and the good management of their resources. I do not think it is as simple as that. It may well be that Irish Shipping have been particularly fortunate with the kind of people they have employed and the policies they pursue, but the fact that one State company are successful does not mean that application of the same principles or managment techniques would make other State companies successful.
CIE have been mentioned in the Minister's speech. We must remind ourselves that here are a company who have an entirely different function from Irish Shipping which arguably can never be commercially successful and it is the State's business to understand that. The State should be as loyal and sympathetic to State companies which provide a social service as it is proud of companies like Irish Shipping which make a profit. I welcome the Bill but I share Senator Dooge's idea that we should separate the economic and social factors involved. I ask the Minister to clarify why it was considered necessary to change from one procedure to another.