asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he forward planning of the IDA for the establishment of industries will be affected by the fact that there will be no census held in the near future.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - IDA Planning.
26.
The main forward planning activity being undertaken by the Industrial Development Authority in conjunction with my Department is the formulation of updated regional industrial proposals for the period to 1980.
These proposals are expected to be finalised within the coming year and could not have incorporated results from a 1976 census since the first results from such a census would not be available until 1977 at the earliest. IDA have available to them a great deal of relevant planning information from their own sources and particularly from their own annual survey of manufacturing employment and the authority's forward planning can, therefore, proceed on an acceptable basis.
Did the Minister say 1980?
I said the main forward planning activity is the formulation of updated proposals for the period to 1980.
Surely the Minister will agree that the non-availability of census returns at the appropriate date on which they should have become available must interfere with the forward planning of the IDA at a time when that planning should be put into operation on the basis of census returns? Can the Minister give any indication of what the IDA propose to do in that regard in the absence of this information?
It is fair to say that there will be a disadvantage to be overcome because of the lack of information from a 1976 census which would become available in 1977-78, but I think the saving that comes from that is compensation for the lack of the information. In regard to the particular IDA task, they have their own annual surveys. They have a great deal of statistical information and statistical skills within their staff. It would be possible to extrapolate from current information and data available from their own sources which will mean that the difference between having details from a census and the details available to them from their own sources will be very small indeed.
Surely the Minister is not inferring that the IDA have an industrial census of their own? Is not the only information available that being provided by the Manpower Service from surveys such as that carried out in particular areas such as Galway, Limerick and Waterford in my time?
They have an annual survey in manufacturing employment and they have all the statistical information of the State which can be taken as being very extensive. It is true that the details of the 1977-78 census returns will not be available. That is something I regret but I think it was a correct decision from the point of view of making economies and I am not at all sure it will damage forward planning.
Would the Minister agree that one of the major areas of concern for the IDA in the longer term would be the number of the population within the country and to a lesser degree the extent of the availability of skills? Whatever about availability of skills, would the Minister not agree that accurate information on the movement and projected movement of population is unlikely to be available to the IDA on the basis of the surveys available to them within their own resources?
I would not agree. It is a question of precision—the same precision which in the normal way would be available every five years and 18 months to two years in arrears but which will not be available. However, I am satisfied that from all the current sources of information which are available continuously, decisions of a planning kind can be made. The data are precise enough for the task involved. This data might not be sufficient for other tasks but for the forward planning activity of the IDA, it is adequate.
I suppose the Minister is aware that there was a great error made on available data until the last census disclosed what happened in the service industry.