asked the Minister for Industry, Trade, Commerce and Tourism if, having regard to the present number of unemployed, the age structure of the population and the particuflar type of courses being pursued by students within the country, he will give an estimate of the number of jobs and the type of industries needed to absorb the available workforce in County Louth over the next five years.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers - Louth Employment Prospects.
3.
The total number on the live register in County Louth on 30 December 1983 was 7,065 but I would point out that this figure covers all categories of unemployment, including agricultural, construction and manufacturing.
I have asked the Industrial Development Authority to prepare five-year industrial plans for each region in the country. These plans which will be published will reflect at regional level the Government's industrial policy which I will be setting out in the forthcoming White Paper on Industrial Policy.
The plans for each region will incorporate an asessment of job needs and the contribution which manufacturing industry can make over the next five years. They will also take into consideration the levels of skills and the number of people available for work with particular skills.
The plans will also examine the role of small industries, indigenous medium/large industry, overseas industry and natural resource based industries in the future development of each region.
The Deputy will appreciate that I will not be in a position to furnish definitive estimates on the lines suggested by him until I have received and examined the relevant regional plan being prepared by the IDA.
Is the Minister telling the House that the IDA do not have any mechanism to calculate the industrial needs of any county or region?
I am not. I am telling the House the reasons for not having prepared a plan — I do not have the mechanism.
I am trying to ascertain the employment needs of each constituency, with particular reference to Louth. In my region we have a long established and recognised industrial base but with the passage of the years there has been a dramatic change——
Will Deputy Kirk listen to the Chair? Question Time must be conducted by asking questions, not by making statements.
I am submitting to the Minister——
You cannot submit.
He is a new Deputy and surely he should be allowed——
At least he got in the door.
I am trying to get the Deputy on the right lines. He is not getting good example from some of the senior Members.
I am asking for information about the Louth constituency and I am not getting the answer.
If the Deputy would let me answer I could give him the information. He asked if the IDA have a mechanism for supplying this information and the answer is that they have otherwise they would not be preparing regional plans. They will be providing that sort of information in their regional plans. On the general question of employment needs in the north-east region, the North-Eastern Regional Development Organisation have been doing some work on this. They have published "Development Strategy for the North-Eastern Region 1983 to 2001". They have produced various assumptions about employment availability in the region. They have produced two scenarios, one relating to a situation in which there would not be migration from the region, everybody staying in it and the population remaining static, and another which they entitle "Migration Scenario" which implies that some people would leave the region and go to other parts of the country. They have come up with a report on job needs per annum to 1988 and another on job needs per annum up to 2001. Between now and 1988 they reckon that the annual job needs will be in the region of 937, and the annual job needs to 2001 will be 201 over the period. There are slightly smaller figures in their alternative scenario in which they allow for migration out of the region. As far as manufacturing employment is concerned, in Louth during the period from January 1980 to November 1982 there was a decline of 1.4 per cent in the number engaged in manufacturing employment as against a national average in the same period of 0.53 per cent. It is true that in terms of manufacturing job losses in Louth in that period there was a more rapid decline in manufacturing employment than nationwide. The Deputy can draw his own political conclusions from those figures.
Can the Minister tell us when we can expect publications of the Government's White Paper on Industrial Policy? If it is to come out soon can I take it that the version leaked to the newspapers is the official version——
That is a separate question altogether.
The Minister spent quite a few minutes outlining certain details and he said the strategy would be contained in the White Paper to be published. I am only asking him when we can expect publication of the White Paper promised nearly 12 months ago. I am asking him when can we expect publication of the strategic plan of the IDA, completed in 1982. If those documents have been finalised, as we are led to believe from leaks to the newspapers, why not publish them?
I cannot give the House any precise information as to the publication dates. Naturally, both will be published as soon as possible. In regard to the document that was leaked, that information did not reflect the final version of the White Paper.
Would the Minister disagree that decisions have been made to do this and that? The Government have said that they have decided——
If the Deputy wants to put down questions on the matters I will be happy to deal with them. The Deputy is now chasing different hares.
The Chair would prefer that extraneous hares should not be raised.
You are not a bad slipper.
If they are put up, the Chair does not want them followed.