Vol. 323 No. 8
asked the Minister for Labour the amount of money lost to (i) State and (ii) semi-State bodies each year from 1970 to the latest available date through (a) official strikes and (b) unofficial strikes; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
18.
asked the Minister for Labour the total loss to the country, including all State and semi-State bodies, industry, agriculture, etc. through strikes each year from 1970 to date.
: With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 17 and 18 together. The information requested is not available to my Department.
: Why is the information not available in regard to the loss through official and non-official strikes over the years?
: To supply the information requested by the Deputy would necessitate asking all Department and State bodies for particulars of relevant strikes occurring over the past ten years and even if that were done, it is extremely unlikely that one could get a complete and accurate picture. For example, in trying to assess the cost of any dispute account would have to be taken of estimated losses to the company concerned together with the estimated repercussive effect on other companies and on the Exchequer at large. Such effects could be beneficial as well as detrimental. For instance, in the recent oil dispute CIE could be said to have benefited by having their transport and passenger services used more fully. In the same way a strike affecting coal deliveries, it would be reasonable to assume, could have a beneficial repercussive effect on the consumption of turf and oil. The Deputy must realise that to endeavour to answer the type of question he has put down is impossible.
: Is the Minister saying then that a strike, unofficial or otherwise, is better for this country than having our people working? Is he not aware that there have been huge losses over the past few years and that the nation seems to be about to commit hara-kiri? Does he not think that in the interest of the nation and the Government he should have some figures as regards the losses? If he cannot get them for the last ten years, could the Minister supply them for even the last one or two years?
: My comments are well known. Of course strikes are injurious and harmful to a company and, as I have said, they have repercussive effects on other companies and on the Exchequer. But the Deputy must appreciate that to compile the kind of information he is asking for in that question would be an absolute impossibility. If the Deputy wishes for information in regard to any specific strike, and if he wishes to put down a question, one would endeavour in that situation to meet the Deputy's requirements.
: Is the Minister aware that last December the Taoiseach, after being elected, said that the Government intended to introduce legislation to deal with unofficial strikes and that the Minister had information prepared and a Bill almost ready? Does the Minister mean to tell me that he had not any of those statistics ready when he was preparing that Bill? What has happened to it since?
: Statistics of the magnitude that the Deputy is requesting would, as I have explained to him, be impossible to get.
: What about the magnitude of the civil service? They are growing all the time. It might be no harm to put some of them on that.
