Vol. 163 No. 5
I move:—
That a sum not exceeding £97,220 be granted to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1958, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Central Statistics Office.
It is unsatisfactory that the accounting officer of the Central Statistics Office should be the Secretary of the Department of Finance. The Central Statistics Office was deliberately taken out of the purview of the Department of Industry and Commerce and put under the control of the Taoiseach, for the specific purpose of ensuring that so far as possible it would not merely give—as I believe it does give—entirely independent statistics but that, in addition, they would seem to be independent. It is unsatisfactory that any Vote should have as its accounting officer a civil servant who is not in the Department responsible for it.
That was the position, I might add, that I found in respect of Vote 22— Universities and Colleges. The Secretary of the Department of Finance was the person responsible to account for Vote 22, but the Minister for Education was the person who had the responsibility of submissions in respect of universities and colleges and education generally. It seemed to me to be quite incomprehensible and incompatible with good administration. I arranged that the accounting this year would be changed to the Department of Education.
An exactly similar situation arises in respect of the Central Statistics Office. I do not see why the Taoiseach should not take the accounting for this Vote under his wing in the same way as he deals with the Arts Council for which there is a separate Vote. However, the Minister for Finance this year is responsible for the accounting of the Central Statistics Office to this House and I should like to know what are the prospects of further expedition in the production of the statistics which are so necessary for the purpose of being able to appreciate and prognosticate our economic trends. I do not want, in saying that, to be taken in any way as being critical of the work of the Statistics Office as it is. I have the utmost respect for and appreciation of that work and of the assistance it was to me when I was on the Minister's side of the House.
I do think we are a long way behind here in the production of vital statistics—I do not mean vital in the sense of life—of the necessary statistics to gauge economic trends, and that these statistics produced here are, of necessity, very much more slowly produced than the same statistics are produced in other countries. I think part of that difficulty arises, not from the Statistics Office, but from the fact that the commercial community have not yet appreciated how necessary is the provision of economic statistics for governmental direction and, ultimately, for their own benefit.
I hope, therefore, that the Minister will be able to give us some assurance that during the coming year steps will be taken to expedite the production of these documents, and of these figures, which will enable us to form a more mature judgment of our economic prospects at an earlier date. The Irish Statistical Survey, which is one of the most valuable documents published under this Vote, would be of even greater value if it were made available earlier in the year. It is one of the documents the earlier publication of which would probably do more than anything else to influence economic thought amongst people outside, rather than the cold statistics normally published which are considered, in the main, only by experts.
With regard to the accounting, the idea is that there is a certain economy in having a department of accounts in the Department of Finance, as well as in the Taoiseach's office. I do not know whether there would be any point in changing that or not. There would be a certain amount of extra expense and there might not be much to gain by the change.
As regards the publications of the Statistics Office, I am assured they are as prompt in issuing these figures, whatever they may relate to, as in other small countries. We may not be as quick as some of the big countries, but we are as good as some of the small countries. All the figures are reliable, generally informative——
And utterly impartial.
I agree.
I appreciate the difficulty in setting up a separate accounting department. Would it not be better, if it is left as it is, that it be taken with Votes 3 and 14 so that the Taoiseach, who knows the Department, would give the information rather than the Minister for Finance, who does not?
