asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will prepare a system for compiling approximate statistics on factory closures, and on the causes, or groups of causes, to which such closures can be imputed; and, in particular, whether he will direct the preparation of returns which will make available to his Department at least an approximate idea of the extent to which factory closure is attributable to industrial relations problems; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Factory Closure Statistics.
27.
My Department are involved in close consultation with the IDA, Fóir Teoranta and the ICC, and with other Departments as appropriate in relation to the State's rescue services for assisting firms in difficulties. In addition to this the IDA conduct an annual survey on employment in manufacturing industry which includes details of employment gains and losses. These employment surveys provide an indication of the number of factory closures in any particular year. The CSO in conjunction with the Department of Labour and other bodies publishes information at sectoral level in relation to industrial disputes.
Arising from these activities in the rescue area, the causes or groups of causes to which factory closure may be attributed are known to be many and varied and include such factors as excessive debt, weak management, market disruption, etc. However, great difficulty arises in attempting to identify with any degree of certainty the extent to which any one particular factor resulted in the closure of factories. The NESC report entitled "An Analysis of Job Losses in Irish Manufacturing Industry" (Report No. 67, page 43) states that "Because of the difficulty of discriminating between the possible causes of job losses, the variable time lags between changes in the causes of job losses and the job losses, and the complex inter-relationships between the various explanatory factors, the problems in assigning causes to job losses are enormous".
For the above reasons I do not propose to direct my Department to construct a system such as suggested by the Deputy.