John Bruton
Question:1 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Taoiseach the estimated cost of providing comparative county income statistics on a regular basis, similar to those produced in 1969 by the Economic and Social Research Institute.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - County Income Statistics.
The county income statistics referred to by the Deputy were compiled as a research exercise by staff of the Economic and Social Research Institute and necessarily involved a considerable degree of estimation and assumption. A similar research exercise would now cost somewhat in excess of £100,000.
The calculation of "official" estimates of county incomes would, however, have to be more soundly based. In particular, they would require the development of substantial new regional data bases. The costs would consequently be much higher and depend on the detail and frequency of the required data.
Would the Minister of State not agree that in almost every other European country information exists on the comparative incomes of different regions or counties within the country? This is considered to be a very necessary element in regional planning to ensure that assistance from Europe or elsewhere is given to those parts of the country which need it most.
That may be the position in other European countries but in this case the Irish Government would state that because of the size of the country they have a good idea of the moneys which need to be spent in various areas. We have a very well established policy of decentralisation and of looking after the various regions.
Would the Minister of State not agree that in the absence of actual statistics as to incomes in different counties money is distributed by the Central Government either on the basis of political favouritism or of precedent? If we had hard objective data available on relative incomes in different counties we would be able to allocate funds on a much fairer basis so that people would not think the west or some other region was being neglected? Would the Minister of State not agree that £100,000 is a relatively small sum of money to expend to achieve such fairness?
I am not sure of the basis on which money was distributed by previous Governments prior to 1987 but I would reject totally the idea that the money is distributed at present by the Government purely on the basis of political advantage or otherwise.
The Minister has much to learn.
As I said in my reply, the statistics compiled by the Economic and Social Research Institute was purely a research exercise which cost £100,000. That exercise involved a considerable degree of estimation and assumption. If we were to carry out the exercise to which Deputy Bruton has referred we could not possibly do it by estimation and assumption. Such an exercise would cost considerably more than the sum of £100,000 mentioned in the reply.