I propose to take Questions Nos. 6, 52, 144 and 152 together. The year 1994 was the best on record for Irish exporters, including an excellent performance from indigenous companies. Total merchandise exports reached £22.7 billion, an increase of 15 per cent on 1993.
The projected outturn for 1995 is also very positive. The latest CSO statistics available are for March of this year and they show that exports for the first quarter were worth £6.3 billion, an increase of 19 per cent on the same period last year.
The slow down in export growth rates projected by ESRI reflects a reduction, anticipated by ESRI, in the growth of world trade. May I point out, however, that projected growth rates are still significant and we can expect buoyant export markets in the coming years. An Bord Tráchtála expects 1995 merchandise exports to show an increase of 13 per cent to £25.7 billion, while non-food indigenous exports, on which ABT concentrates its efforts, are expected to grow by 16 per cent.
To achieve this target, ABT in particular is currently involved in an intensive campaign to encourage exporters to seize new business opportunities emerging in the enlarged EU Single Market, under the banner "Opportunity Europe". This involves a dual strategy of supporting the 800-plus Irish companies at present selling in continental Europe and encouraging Irish exporters who have already been successful in Britain to expand into other European markets.
As regards growth in employment, ABT survey figures indicate that its client firms who are all located in the indigenous sector employed almost 4,000 additional people in the year to June.
On the issue of transfer pricing, the Deputies may wish to be aware that targets set by the Government for ABT relate to the export performance of indigenous non-food companies. Export figures for this sector, therefore, are unaffected by activities in the multinational sector.
I should mention that an Interdepartmental Group, chaired by the Department of the Taoiseach, and on which my Department was represented, was established in August last year to examine, inter alia, the statistics available on external trade and their impact on national income statistics.
I understand that the group's report is currently being finalised and will be submitted to Government in the coming weeks.
However, in evidence to the Public Accounts Committee, the Director of the Central Statistics Office indicated that it had exhaustively examined the official trade figures in conjunction with both the Revenue Commissioners and the top exporting companies. Based on this examination, the CSO found no reason to significantly revise the figures. In the circumstances, I also can see no reason to doubt the figures.