Vol. 450 No. 6
53 Mr. M. McDowell asked the Taoiseach the reason statistics (details supplied) in relation to small and medium enterprises recently published by Directorate General XII and Eurostat have not included material from Ireland; the reason such material is not available; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5322/95]
The publication referred to by the Deputy (EC Research and Technology Funding for Small Businesses — a guide for beginners) focuses on the importance of small and medium enterprises in the manufacturing sector and especially their role as subcontractors to larger enterprises.
In Ireland, the annual Census of Industrial Production (CIP) collects information in respect of units with three or more persons engaged and analyses by numbers engaged are available for a range of variables. This information is supplied on a regular basis to the European Commission and it is possible that the exclusion of units with one or two persons engaged has given rise to the observation that "no equivalent data are available" for Ireland.
The following table gives the closest equivalent data for Irish firms.
Should the Deputy require further information on the manufacturing or other sectors the CSO would be happy to discuss the matter with him and provide whatever information is available.
|
Persons Engaged size-class |
Number ofpersons engaged |
% |
|
3-9 |
8,688 |
4.2 |
|
10-99 |
74,455 |
35.8 |
|
100-499 |
83,336 |
39.7 |
|
500 and over |
26,775 |
13.2 |
|
Non-attributable |
1,494 |
7.1 |
|
Total |
194,748 |
100.0 |
