In the absence of figures for imports, would the Minister agree that, since the level of advertising of imported furniture has increased dramatically in the last year, presumably the level of imports has also risen accordingly? Would the Minister investigate the inherent grave threat to our traditional furniture manufacturing industry?

In the absence of the figures on the import side I am not in a position to give a very definitive answer in that regard. I would point out to the Deputy that one of the ongoing complaints from the furniture industry for some time past has been the disadvantage at which they find themselves on the Irish market vis-a-vis value-added tax on imports not being paid at the point of entry. That situation was corrected in the recent budget and puts the Irish furniture industry on a level footing in a competitive sense with their foreign counterparts. That was one of the running sores of the furniture industry. Information is not available to me on the file in relation to the upsurge of imports, but I shall be glad to communicate it to the Deputy.