Tom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

That is a bit of a mouthful. I congratulate the Deputy and his party on their conference. The process of feedback was initiated through Sustaining Progress so the feedback came from social partners and other interested parties. Anybody involved in the social partnership process at Government and public service level, as well as those in business or the trade union movement, would have a huge interest in these facts. Feedback was received together with encouragement for the CSO to continue its work in this area, and I am the Minister responsible in that regard.

Ireland's unemployment rate increased from a low point of 3.6% in 2001 to 4.4% in 2004. However, we still have the second lowest unemployment rate in the European Union and less than half the EU 25 average. The CSO is definitely pursuing other avenues to delve further into these figures. As I said to Deputy Costello, the key is to target resources where they are absolutely required regardless of whether the figure is 21%, according to the EU model on poverty criteria, or less under our own. The broad criteria relate to the elderly, single parents and children. With regard to poverty, we must measure the income of households and how that impacts on children. It is vitally important that the CSO examines all areas with regard to quality of life. We have discussed this issue with CSO personnel and they are looking at time use surveys, that is, what people are doing with their time. They are doing some interesting work, with people spending time with families in the home. Pilot work is going on also in that area, a subject raised in the Dáil in the past, which involves working with the gender equality section of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The result of that work is expected this summer.

Good statistical work is being done on people's involvement with sports, a topic that relates to yesterday's debate on obesity, in terms of players, organisers and volunteers. That is important work in determining whether people are actively involved in sport or are organisers or mentors. That statistical work, combined with the capital and current expenditure on sport, will be important in evaluating the current position. All parties in this House are concerned with the need to get the greatest possible participation in recreation and sport.

People often regard the Central Statistics Office as being made up of public servants who are out of touch with the reality of life, but from my involvement with it in this Ministry I have found them to be an enlightened group of people who are examining various new areas and I commend them for doing that. To answer the Deputy's question, much useful, thematic work is coming on-stream with regard to the new areas the CSO is examining.

There is some work to be done on the environmental area, but while there were some negative indicators it is worth noting some of the progress made. One aspect I would mention in particular is that Ireland's energy intensity ratio has improved from 236.4 in 1994 to 151.3 in 2003. The percentage of unpolluted river water in Ireland improved from 67% in the period 1995 to 1997 to 69.8% during 1998-2000.

We are all aware of what happened as a result of the work of the Tánaiste, Deputy Harney, with regard to smoke pollution levels in Dublin. That shows the importance of a major initiative such as the one the Tánaiste pursued. Smoke levels decreased dramatically following the introduction of the legal restrictions on the sale of non-smokeless coal in 1990. Similar improvements occurred when the ban was extended to Cork and Limerick. There are many positive aspects in the report, including the area of landfill in terms of recycling of plastic and paper. Much progress has been made and I am convinced more progress will be made because of the good work taking place with regard to recycling. As far as I am concerned, the CSO people have their finger on the pulse. They are examining new areas and I encourage them to do that.

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