asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce whether he will cause to be prepared and issued a special report on present agricultural output similar to that issued for the year 1926-1927.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Report on Agricultural Output.
It is not intended at present to depart from the current practice of publishing annually in the Irish Trade Journal and Statistical Bulletin an article on the agricultural output for the preceding year. The report for 1945 appeared in the June, 1946, issue and the output for 1946 will be dealt with in the September, 1947, issue.
Notes on the principles and methods adopted for the estimation of agricultural output appeared in the September, 1931, issue of the journal and a detailed review, covering the period from 1926-27 to 1942-43, was published in the issues for March and June, 1944.
Did the Minister say that notes were published in the Irish Trade Journal for September, 1931?
Notes on the principles and methods adopted for compilation of the output were then published.
Does the Minister not realise that those interested in the matter would like to have a review of those principles, now that we are in 1947, and that they find it difficult to regard as satisfactory an outline of principles established in 1931? A great many things have happened since. There has been a considerable change in the type of agricultural output. Quite a large number of people are interested in having a review of the situation. They would like to have the principles reset or, if the old principles are being accepted, they would like to have them reiterated in an up-to-date statement.
Quite the contrary. I think the value of these statistics depends largely upon their uniformity. Their compilation on the basis of the same principles year by year is an essential contribution to their value.