Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Taoiseach the total number of persons in employment here in the retail grocery sector; if he will provide a breakdown of figures available to show the number of persons employed in foreign owned retail chains; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12923/13]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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The exact information requested by the Deputy is not available. The Annual Services Inquiry (ASI) provides a breakdown of the retail sector by Nationality of Ownership (excluding motor vehicles and motorcycles) for enterprises which have 20 or more "persons engaged in employment". The latest year for which data has been published is 2010. The ASI collects information from enterprises in different services sectors as classified by the standard European classification of economic activity (NACE Rev2). The NACE classification contains no direct equivalent classification "retail grocery sector". The closest equivalent for which data is available is NACE sector 47 which covers the retail trade. Table 1 below shows the breakdown of persons engaged in the retail trade by Nationality of Ownership for each year from 2008 to 2010.

Table 1: Persons Engaged (Number) in enterprises with 20 or more persons engaged, by NACE Rev 2 Sector, Nationality of Ownership and Year

The ASI does not collect information on the Nationality of Ownership for enterprises with less than 20 persons engaged. However, estimates are available for the total number of persons engaged in these enterprises and this information is presented in table 2.

Table 2: Persons Engaged (Number) in enterprises with 20 or less persons engaged, by NACE Rev 2 Sector and Year

The following should be noted when analysing the figures provided above. The figures provided are on a “person engaged in employment” basis and not on an employee basis. The definitions used are:

1.Persons engaged, includes employees, proprietors and family members.

2. For Information on Nace Rev 2 see the following link.

http://www.cso.ie/en/surveysandmethodology/classifications/classificationofindustrialactivity/