asked the Taoiseach if he will state in respect of total employment within the State (a) the percentage that office employment accounts for and (b) the percentage of this employment that is located in the western region.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Employment Statistics.
1.
Of the total labour force of 1,119,531 persons enumerated in the 1971 census of population, 121, 130 or 10.8 per cent were in the occupation groups clerical workers and administrative, executive and managerial workers. The number in Counties Galway and Mayo was 4,670 or 3.9 per cent of the total in these groups.
Will the Parliamentary Secretary ensure that the Government will pursue vigorously a policy of decentralisation so that the regional imbalance can be corrected, and would he not——
I am sorry to interrupt the Deputy, but the Parliamentary Secretary is not responsible for such a matter. That is a matter of policy, and a question on that subject should be put down to the appropriate Minister.
But this arises out of the Parliamentary Secretary's reply.
The Parliamentary Secretary is responsible only for giving the figures for which the Deputy asked.
Would the Parliamentary Secretary not agree that there is a serious imbalance in the figures given in his reply?
Of course there is an imbalance, but it is one which is natural when the Deputy asks about a part of the country which excludes the four biggest towns in the country. The Deputy's concern of course is shared by the Government and by the Ministers whose responsibility directly relates to remedying the matter of which the Deputy complains.