Bertie Ahern
Ceist:10 Mr. B. Ahern asked the Taoiseach the reason travel statistics to and from this State bear no obvious correlation to net migration figures. [11580/96]
Written Answers. - Migration Statistics.
The passenger movement figures cover all travel into and out of the State by air and sea as well as cross-Border rail and scheduled bus services. In total, up to 7 million journeys have been recorded annually in each direction. Migrants make up approximately 0.5 per cent of the total movement.
While the gross passenger figures are considered reliable as regards monitoring total movements, the difference between them is not a reliable measure of net migration. This is because a relatively small discrepancy in the passenger movement figures could have a substantial impact on the net migration figures which have been estimated, on average, at around 5,000 per annum, that is less than 0.1 per cent of the gross passenger flow in recent years.
In the absence of administrative controls on the movement of persons into and out of the State, the Central Statistics Office makes full use of a range of information sources when estimating annual migration flows. These include the annual labour force surveys, the country of residence inquiries conducted at air and sea ports, passenger statistics and administrative records such as the register of electors and the child benefit scheme.