Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)

Both of them cannot be telling the truth. Is it not the case that the Minister of State Deputy Lenihan's comments constitute an allegation either that the Polish community here was dishonest and was in serious breach of the law or that the enumerators were not up to the job? Which is it? Both of these are serious allegations. The Minister of State, Deputy Kitt, is telling us that he has not asked the Minister of State, Deputy Lenihan, where he got his figures from or sought clarity from him on this issue. I put it to the Minister of State that his colleague has questioned the competency of the CSO. He made these comments last September and they have not since been clarified.

I would expect that enumeration of illegal migrants would be more difficult as these people do not rush to the door when they hear a knock. What specific steps were taken to obtain a figure for illegal migrants? Does this represent the 1% estimate given by the CSO of the number of people that were not actually included in the figures?

See this speech in context