asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if his attention has been directed to a statement made at a recent meeting of the Cork Council of Irish Unions to the effect that a number of firms may have to close down owing to the scarcity of scrap metal, and that scrap metal was being sold elsewhere at illegal prices; and, if so, what action he proposes to take.

I have seen the statement referred to. I am awaiting information which I have already asked the Cork Council of Irish Unions to supply as to the foundries concerned and the type of scrap metal involved.

At this stage may I say that the export of metal scrap is rigidly controlled in the interests of home requirements?