asked the Taoiseach the plans which exist for the holding of a household budget survey in the near future.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Household Budget Survey.
2.
(Dún Laoghaire): The Central Statistics Office have proposed that a largescale national household budget survey be taken in respect of the year 1987. A Government decision on the matter will be taken shortly and at that stage I will contact the Deputy and let him know the outcome.
Will the Minister say why the household budget survey is not taking place this year? For a number of years it has been the tradition to hold the survey every five years but it is now six and a half years since the last survey. It is important because the consumer price index is based on the household budget survey and it is the basis for weighting the rate of inflation. As so many important decisions now being made in the area of pay agreements and in other areas are based——
Even somebody as persuasive as Deputy Ahern may not make a speech at Question Time.
Many important issues are based on the level of inflation. I maintain that the basis for determining the level of inflation is flawed because it is based on the way people spent their money six and a half years ago——
I cannot allow the Deputy to continue on that line. He will have to raise the matter in some other way.
Unfortunately I cannot do that. I tried to do so but was not successful. The only way I can raise the matter is to ask the Taoiseach but unfortunately he is not in the House.
The Deputy may not make a speech at Question Time.
Will the Minister give an assurance that the household budget survey will take place in the next 12 months? I know that the Departments of Finance and the Public Service as well as the Government wish to block it and have said so at some important meetings held recently.
(Dún Laoghaire): That statement is not exactly correct.
Not exactly correct?
(Dún Laoghaire): If the Deputy allows me, I will give him the information. Largescale household budget surveys were undertaken in respect of the years 1951-52 and 1965-66 when only urban areas were covered and in 1973 and 1980 when both urban and rural areas were surveyed. Therefore, a seven-year cycle has been established for undertaking this survey since 1965-66 and, as the last largescale household budget survey was carried out in 1980, the next survey should be carried out in 1987. That is in keeping with the seven-year cycle that has been established. It is not on a five-year basis as stated by the Deputy. While I cannot anticipate a Government decision, it is my view that the Government will approve the holding of a household budget survey in 1987.
As is the normal practice, a sum of money was made available in the 1986 Estimates for preparatory work but naturally that money cannot be spent until a Government decision is taken with regard to carrying out the survey in 1987.
If the survey takes place in 1987 — and attempts are being made at the moment to block it — the results will not be known until 1988 which will be eight and a half years since the last survey was carried out. My point is that the way people spent their money in 1980 when the country was doing well economically is not in line with the way they do so now when the country has been in a recession for three years. The inflation rate of 2 or 3 per cent is not based on the way people are spending their money. It is a flawed figure.
The inflation rate was 20 per cent in 1980.
The inflation rate will not stand up to any economic analysis. The Government have not given a definite answer——
The Deputy is abusing Question Time.
(Dún Laoghaire): The statements made are not accurate. The main purpose of a largescale household budget survey is to provide detailed information on current household expenditure patterns for updating the consumer price index. As I have said, the seven-year cycle has been established since 1965-66. In view of the fact that the last survey was undertaken in 1980, it would follow the established cycle that the next survey should be undertaken in 1987. There is also a corresponding seven-yearly updating of the CPI. That was done in November 1968, in 1975 and in 1982. We are not departing from what has been done in the past. I am confident that a survey will be undertaken in 1987 but I am not in a position to anticipate a Government decision. All I am saying to the Deputy is that we have made initial preparations for the holding of the survey in 1987 and once the Government decision is taken it will proceed.
Will the Minister agree that the way people spent their money in 1980 was totally different from the way they are spending it now when the country is in the depths of a recession? Therefore, the CPI which is formulated from the household budget survey is not in line and thus the figures we have for inflation are inaccurate. Will the Minister confirm or deny that?
(Dún Laoghaire): That is a question of opinion. I am not in the business of giving one's own opinion on this matter. I have to stick to facts. The detailed information to be collected in a household budget survey is laid out. Those details will be the same as in the past. It is a question of opinion as to how people spend their money. The Government have made preparations for the holding of a survey. We are sticking to the seven-year cycle. There were seven-yearly updatings of the CPI in 1968, 1975 and 1982.
(Interruptions.)