asked the Taoiseach if in order to facilitate discussion in the Dáil and in the interests of Members he will arrange with, and if necessary expand the resources of, the Central Statistics Office, so that all Members might be able either through written Parliamentary Questions or otherwise to have made available from that Office comparable statistics on matters of public interest from countries other than the Republic.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Central Statistics Office.
2.
A considerable amount of comparable statistical material relating to other countries is available in the Library, which receives regularly the Statistical Yearbook of the United Nations and other international publications containing statistical information. I would suggest that it is through the Library that Deputies should ordinarily seek comparable statistics relating to other countries, but when any additional details or information as to source documents is required Deputies may communicate with the Central Statistics Office, which obtains many of the official statistical publications of other countries and of international organisations and has available in its extensive specialist library a number of other sources of foreign statistical data. On receipt of any such request the Office will, as heretofore, endeavour to provide the particulars desired. I do not consider that any expansion of the resources of the Office is necessary in this connection.
May I take it that where a Deputy finds it impossible to correlate the data or the material in the Library, which it is not always easy to do unless one has experience of handling material of this kind, he can ask the Central Statistics Office to prepare a correlation for him?
The Central Statistics Office will give Deputies information as to where the data they require is obtainable and, if possible, supply them with the data, but, in the normal working of the Dáil, I should think it desirable that Deputies should use the Library rather than the Central Statistics Office where the Library service is adequate.
Quite, but where a Deputy finds his unaided efforts will not serve effectively to make appropriate comparisons between the statistical material in the Library and the material available in respect of our own economy from the Central Statistics Office, I take it he may depend on the Central Statistics Office to assist him in that comparison?
Yes, certainly. I do not wish to discourage Deputies from going directly to the Central Statistics Office for information, except that the resources of the Central Statistics Office are limited and it would not be reasonable to ask them to do mere research work to get for Deputies information which they could get for themselves through the Library.