Bertie Ahern
Question:2 Mr. B. Ahern asked the Taoiseach the new statistical series, if any, which will be produced in 1997; and the series where publication will become more frequent. [5810/97]
Ceisteanna — Questions. - Statistical Series.
The information requested by the Deputy on the new statistical series and publications planned by the Central Statistics Office for 1997 is given in a table which I propose to circulate in the Official Report.
In addition to the items listed, the CSO is undertaking a range of new developments. In particular, there will be a major development in social statistics with the replacement in the middle of this year of the annual labour force survey by the new quarterly national household survey.
New Statistical Series and Publications
|
Publication |
Frequency |
|
New Regular Series: |
|
|
Stocks and capital investment |
Quarterly |
|
Fishery statistics |
Annual |
|
Forestry statistics |
Annual |
|
Product statistics (Prodcom), 1994 |
Annual |
|
Series with Increased Frequency: |
|
|
Consumer Price Index |
Monthly |
|
Occasional Publications and Releases: |
|
|
Agriculture: Historical Compendium (county level) |
— |
|
Census of Agriculture, 1991 and Census of Population, 1991: Joint Analysis |
— |
|
Census of Population, 1996 |
|
|
—Summary report for the State |
— |
|
—Volume 1: Areas |
— |
|
—Volume 2: Ages and Marital Status |
— |
|
—Volume 3: Household Composition and Family Units |
— |
|
Farm Structures Survey, 1995 |
— |
|
Household Budget Survey, 1994-95 |
|
|
—Volume 1: Detailed Results for All |
— |
|
Households |
|
|
Structure of Earnings Survey, 1995 |
— |
I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I welcome the extended range of information from the Central Statistics Office. Does he agree it would be helpful if there were more regular migration and employment statistics? Perhaps he might raise that with the committee in the CSO. Does the Minister of State have any plans to produce quarterly statistics? Most countries produce quarterly statistics on GNP but we have not managed to do that. They are used extensively by Eurostat countries to watch for recession in economies or to monitor indicators. There appear to be computer packages which countries producing these statistics use. Will the Minister of State consider this proposal? If it is being done on a community basis in several countries, it would be possible to do it here. While I welcome the quarterly labour force review, will any other economic data be prepared quarterly?
The need to produce regular data is to the fore in the Government's mind and that of Central Statistics Office, the agency which delivers the data. It is in that spirit that we are moving to more regular and more frequent surveys across the economic and social spectrum. The quarterly labour force survey will provide key indicators as regards the performance of the economy and employment. Last week we announced the monthly publication of the consumer price index.
The Deputy raised previously the question of quarterly national accounts and it is something we are moving towards. Unfortunately, the lead in time is extensive and we do not anticipate publication until 1999. As regards more frequent surveys, data and availability of information, it is desirable that we are in conformity with our European partners from the point of view of ensuring our data can be cross checked with that of other member states so we may see our relative performance. There should be maximum synchronisation between our performance in terms of statistics and data and that in the other 14 members states.