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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 18 Jun 1991

Vol. 409 No. 9

Order of Business (Resumed).

May I raise a point of order on an entirely different issue? It is a tradition of this House that if a Minister gives wrong information to the House normally the Minister will set the record straight. I appreciate, Sir, that you have always said to us that the answers given are outside your control. This is not a matter of debate. Last week in reply to a Dáil question the Taoiseach gave wrong information to the House as to the number unemployed in Dublin as at 31 May. He indicated there had been an increase of only 200 in the unemployment figures over a 12 month period; the increase had actually been 8,500.

I want to assist the Deputy——

I tried to assist——

I want to assist the Deputy in clarifying matters, but it is a well known fact in this House that if Deputies are dissatisfied with a Minister's or the Taoiseach's reply there are many ways open to them to deal with the matter, but not on the Order of Business. Furthermore, if a Deputy is making a serious allegation against any Member of the House he should proceed by way of substantive motion. He may not pursue the matter now.

On a point of order——

The Deputy is good at raising points of order.

I appreciate the Taoiseach may have done this inadvertently, but on occasions in the House, I have tried to indicate by way of supplementary, and I did not get in on that matter, that the statistics he gave were wrong. There was an 11 per cent increase in unemployment in Dublin over a 12 month period. I think the Taoiseach should set the record straight and give the correct figure and explain why the House was misled last week.

I did it inadvertently. It was a statistical question and I regret that incorrect information was inadvertently supplied to me by the Central Statistics Office. I thought I had taken steps to correct that so far as the Deputy is concerned. The position is that, unfortunately — it does not very often happen — incorrect statistical information was supplied to me. Just one digit was wrong.

To clarify the position, the Taoiseach agrees that unemployment in Dublin increased by 11 per cent, over 8,000, he did not tell us that, and no statement issued to tell the House until I sought it.

(Interruptions.)

The Taoiseach has indicated to me a number of times on the Order of Business with regard to a proposed debate on European affairs and the development of political union and monetary union that he felt this was not the appropriate time to have the debate. Would the Taoiseach reconsider that view in light of the statement by Jacques Delors yesterday with regard to the development of a federal Europe and the views expressed by him on that matter?

It is hardly relevant now, Deputy.

Perhaps the Taoiseach will indicate if he has changed his mind on the matter?

As I have said, I will report to the House on the outcome of the Luxembourg Summit and perhaps we could extend that to a broader discussion than is usual.

May I ask the Taoiseach if he would intervene with his Minister for Agriculture and Food to try to bring to an end the two month old clerical staff strike in the various offices of the Department throughout the country where there are thousands of farmers awaiting payment of grants.

Deputy Farrelly should raise that matter in a more appropriate manner.

Extreme hardship is being caused to these farmers. We have tried to raise this matter in other ways but we cannot. A lot of farmers are in dire trouble with their banks because the Minister will do nothing.

Is the Minister on holidays?

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