Mr. Pádraig Dalton:

One of the prerequisites of our involvement is a data source that we can use to compile the relevant information. At the moment one of the problems seems to be the lack of such a database. In certain sectors we are able to go to an administrative data source in whatever Department and start to compile statistics from it. We are trying to consider the matter in the following way. We are involved in the working group on data needs and, as I said, that group will meet at the end of October. We will wait and see what comes out of that report at the end of October and then we will engage constructively with the outcome of it and work with those involved to identify the most appropriate way to provide information on this very important sector. We are very conscious of the need for this type of information but, again, we can only provide it within the broad scope of our mandate.

The most important thing is we would never get involved, and nor legally can we, in any regulatory or administrative type of activity. If there is a regulatory activity which collects the appropriate data, we can use it as a data source to compile official statistics on the sector. This may be something that comes out of the group. I do not know. We will await recommendations and engage constructively then.