asked the Taoiseach if he will state the estimated total number of persons who emigrated in the year 1966 up to the latest date for which figures are available.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Emigration Figures.
5.
Figures for the net outward passenger balance by sea and air are the only indicators available of net emigration for periods other than intervals between successive censuses of population. While the figures in question proved, in the intercensal periods 1951-56 and 1956-61, to be reasonably accurate indicators of net emigration the same was not true for the last intercensal period 1961-66. In that period the aggregate returned for the net outward passenger movement by sea and air was about 40 per cent larger than the net emigration for the same period. A possible explanation of this is the increase in the number of tourists who entered the State in each year across the land border and subsequently departed by sea or air.
Because of the incidence of tourist movements, figures relating to inward and outward movements by sea and air can give varying results at different periods of the year.
For the twelve-month period ended August, 1966, the net outward passenger movement by sea and air was 36,960 persons. The unreliability of this figure as an indicator of net emigration must however be stressed.