asked the Taoiseach if he is aware that it is reported in the Annual Reports of the (British) Overseas Migration Board that the numbers of entrants into national insurance in Great Britain relating entirely to persons from the Republic of Ireland over school-leaving age and not including non-working dependants were 68,502 in 1957, 58,316 in 1958 and 69,494 in 1959; and if he has any reason to doubt that 196,312 Irish citizens took up employment in Britain in the period of three years.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Irish Citizens in Insurable Employment in Britain.
1.
The figures quoted by the Deputy are incorrect, being over-stated in respect of 1959 and in the total by 5,000.
These statistics cannot be accepted as a measure of Irish emigration to Britain, nor can they be reconciled with the known facts regarding the numbers leaving school in this country in each year and the number of new social insurance cards issued here.
In the three years mentioned in the question the total number who reached school-leaving age was 170,000, approximately, and during the same three years, the number of new social insurance cards issued here was 158,000. If there is added to the difference between these totals, namely 12,000 about 18,000 in respect of the reduction in the number of persons occupied in agriculture, which now averages about 6,000 per year, it becomes clear that the British figures must contain a very large element of duplication, and that the view, which I expressed on a recent occasion that net emigration to Britain is probably nearer to half the British figures referred to, is correct.