Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

I commend the Central Statistics Office on the quality of its work, particularly with regard to the compilation, preparation and presentation of the Statistical Yearbook of Ireland. However, has the Minister of State noted this otherwise useful and well-presented publication does not include a section which presents in a crisp and simple form the critical information on the all-Ireland population and a variety of other matters? One has to take the collective figures on the population of the Twenty-six Counties and then refer to the appendix in order to carry out the necessary calculations. For the record, the population of Ireland is in excess of 5.95 million people.

Given that the appendix now covers the Six Counties, will the Minister of State ask the CSO to include a simple tabular profile of the reality of the situation on the island of Ireland when it prepares future editions of the Statistical Yearbook of Ireland? It would not be an onerous task to do so and it would be of tremendous interest to people.

Historic information should also be presented. Has the Minister of State noted that, although partition was imposed in 1921, the publication's historical information dating back to 1841 refers to three provinces and the three Ulster counties, Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan, which are part of this State but does not present information on the overall population which censuses conducted between 1841 and 1921 would certainly have revealed? Does he agree this gives a false picture and will he use his office to appeal to the CSO to take on board my repeated appeals to him in this regard, as well as the views expressed by others? Does he further agree that the CSO should produce a section dedicated to the all-Ireland presentation of facts and figures pertaining to the people of the island of Ireland in all 32 counties?

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