asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will state, in respect of the total quantity of goods imported during the year 1944 (a) from overseas, and (b) cross-Channel, the percentage of such goods which passed through the ports of Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Waterford, respectively.

The information is not available. The statistics of imports are not compiled by the routes over which the goods are carried or by the individual ports of entry.

Will the Minister say, in view of the information he gave recently about the percentages of imports at various ports, whether these percentages referred to overseas imports or whether they included cross-Channel imports also?

As I stated, it referred to goods imported on the ships of Irish Shipping Limited.