Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. The Minister of State is particularly welcome given that this is the first time he has addressed the House. I wish him well in dealing with his onerous responsibilities in the Department of the Taoiseach and not least in his role as Government Chief Whip. I echo the Leas-Chathaoirleach's comments in expressing the hope that the Minister of State will visit the House on many occasions during the five year term of the Government. I hope today's discussion offers him an insight into the effective working of the Seanad, notwithstanding the Government's pledge to hold a referendum on the abolition of the House.

I am impressed with the Minister of State's strong defence of and support for the Central Statistics Office and its work. I will declare a minor interest arising from the fact that my wife's first job in the Civil Service was in the Central Statistics Office. She later moved to the Departments of Defence, Agriculture and Social Welfare, as that Department was then known.

I will cut to the chase. The Minister of State referred several times to the high level of professionalism of the Central Statistics Office. In light of his stout defence of the CSO, I note also the following comments, which highlight the difficulty facing the office:

The second major challenge facing statistical offices is to work within more limited budgets. I am pleased to note the Central Statistics Office has been very active in implementing structural changes to make the collection, processing and dissemination of statistics more efficient. It has fully met all savings commitments to date and I am confident it will continue to do so.

I fully understand the difficult economic circumstances in which we find ourselves and the need to secure savings across all Departments. This is an agenda that was first pursued by the previous Government when the banking crisis struck in 2008. Its purpose was to ensure we obtain more efficient use of increasingly limited resources. The Government has inherited this legacy and is doing the best job it can in the circumstances. The Minister of State correctly noted the importance of statistics and it is clear that no government, business or administration can work without accurate and up-to-date statistics. He noted also that joined up government needs joined up data. The major difficulty is that the Central Statistics Office is having a serious staffing problem and has suffered under the Government moratorium on recruitment.

This is having a detrimental effect in ensuring there are up-to-date data, especially in the area of tourism. I had the opportunity of addressing this issue with the Minister of State's colleague in Government, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Varadkar, who conceded there was a difficulty in this regard. Specific tourism statistics are vital, particularly given that tourism is our second most successful indigenous industry. I compliment the Government on the initiatives it took during the summer of lowering VAT and stimulating what has so far been a reasonably good year for tourism, with an increase of 245,000 in visitor numbers in the second quarter.

The problem is that tourism is seasonal. It is vital, therefore, not only for the industry but for Government, in particular the relevant line Departments, to have up-to-date statistics. Those currently being processed are at least three months, and in some instances six months, out of date. I understand this is because the number of staff available to process the statistics has been reduced. As the Minister of State repeatedly signalled, it is vital to have up-to-date statistics. Perhaps he might address the staffing issue in the context of his remarks about savings. I wonder if the savings are not counter-productive. Although a relatively small amount of money may be saved, the lack of up-to-date statistics may not only inhibit outside businesses such as those involved in tourism but also restrict actual Government in terms of dealing with policy issues that must be addressed in the short term rather than in the medium or long term. I fully accept the Minister of State's position and he will obviously hold the line as per the moratorium. However, I am sure he will agree that in certain key Departments there have been breaches of the moratorium for very good reasons. As the Minister of State correctly identified, the CSO is a vital arm of State, not only for the proper and efficient functioning of Government but also for business and for people operating outside Government. He might address that issue.

The Minister of State referred to the fact that we do not have a tradition of official registers, for example, of persons, businesses or buildings. He believes that addressing these gaps by what one might term a national data infrastructure would be of long-term benefit to the country. Perhaps he might expand on that. Are there plans for an introduction of such an infrastructure? There have been calls, for example, for a national register of buildings. There have also been calls in the real estate area for a national register of pricing or prices. As the Minister of State will know, the current state of the housing market is based very much on anecdotal evidence and evidence provided by what can loosely be termed vested interests, namely, those in the real estate industry. They are the people on whom we rely to a large extent to establish the current level of the housing market. Such information is based very much on the experiences of those companies. I do not for one moment cast aspersions on them but one of the key criticisms of the bubble period was that real estate companies talked up the property market through their advertising . They spent lavishly on advertising and as a result the media, in particular the printed media, were compliant in keeping the property bubble going because it was in their financial interest so to do. When the bubble burst, there was a considerable loss of advertising revenue to the national media, especially print media.

It would be important for the Minister of State to address this gap in the statistics in order that there might be an independent national assessment of the housing market in terms of pricing and a universal assessment rather than the sectional one we have at present. That might give us some indication. As the Minister of State and I know, and as most of us know, there are people who are waiting for further decline in the housing market. There is an indication it may have another 10% or 15% to fall in spite of the fact that first-time buyers in particular are having a great deal of difficulty in getting mortgages. It seems that the banking sector has dried up in that regard. One need only look at the statistics published by the CSO which show some 13,000 mortgages issued this year, a figure that hearkens back to the 1970s. Even given the limited resources of the CSO, it would be helpful to know if the Minister of State has a view on whether it is important to have this assessment. It would be vital information to give to people throughout the country because it would give some sense of the national figures, be independently based and be arrived at professionally. I single out that point because the Minister of State raised the issue of a national register. In the current climate such nationally based statistics, if available, might help to stimulate the market. People would have more confidence if they realised the market had actually bottomed out. As of now, we do not know whether it has done so.

Overall, I am delighted the Minister of State attended the House to discuss what may be an underestimated and yet is a vital arm of Government which impacts on people's lives every day, although they may not realise it. The Minister of State set out his stall admirably within the budgetary constraints imposed on him and the Government. In the current spending review he must fight for and be more specific about an increase in resources for the CSO to ensure we have proper statistics, particularly those relating to tourism, in which area I have an interest. That is vital. Industry leaders have pointed out, as have Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland, the need to have further up-to-date statistics.

I shall offer a final example. If one is in business in the tourism industry and has figures that are up to date, then one can take marketing decisions that will ensure one's business is kept afloat or can be improved. However, if one bases one's actions on figures that are six months out of date, it will be very difficult to make a value decision that will be of help, not only to one's personal business but to the national economy.

I again commend the Minister of State's presentation and wish him continued success in this role and in the much wider role of ensuring we get our country back into a stable, economic and more prosperous environment.