asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will now state when the report and recommendations of the Commission on Emigration and Other Population Problems are likely to be made available, having regard to his statement in Dáil Éireann on 31st October last that the work of the commission was then well advanced.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Emigration and Population Reports.
I have inquired from the commission and have ascertained that the draft report was being revised and the work was well advanced when the preliminary figures from the 1951 census became available and further information came to hand in connection with Ireland's contribution to the World Census of Agriculture. I am informed that the commission considered these statistics to be so striking as to require them to reexamine many aspects of their work and to undertake further statistical inquiries. This, in turn, has necessitated a considerable amount of additional drafting and revision of the text. When this part of the task has been completed the revised draft will be reconsidered by the commission. I am assured that everything possible is being done to expedite the work but that, in the circumstances described, it is likely to be some months before the report will be presented.