To ask the Minister for Industry and Commerce whether he is aware that in certain employments the rates of remuneration and of bonus were regulated by the official cost of living statistics formerly published by the Board of Trade, and whether his department is in a position to ascertain and publish at regular intervals similar cost of living statistics applicable to the Irish Free State.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. - COST OF LIVING STATISTICS.
I will answer this question in the absence of the Minister for Industry and Commerce. Cost of living figures for An Saorstát have been compiled and published in respect of the months of March, June, and October, 1922. The figure for January, 1923, has been compiled, and will be published in the course of a few days. It is intended that the Ministry of Industry and Commerce should continue to compile and publish the figure at three-monthly intervals. The figures already published and those to be published in the future are available to all parties who wish to use them in the regulation of wages.