Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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274. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the steps he has taken to halt the rapid decline of persons employed in agriculture, forestry and fisheries in the past year, a decline of more than 11,000 persons, or 10%; the reason for this rapid decline; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10318/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I noted the Central Statistics Office release of the Quarterly National Household Survey for Q4, 2014, on 25 February. My Department monitors these official figures for employment in the sector as a matter of course. I especially noted the statement therein, to which the Deputy refers, that employment in Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries dropped by 10,900 or 9.3% since Q4 2013. I would caution, however, that these figures should be viewed in the context of the following caveat provided by the CSO, the first paragraph of which is included in the release itself:

After each Census of Population the sample of households for the QNHS is updated to ensure the sample remains representative. The new sample based on the 2011 Census of Population was introduced incrementally from Q4 2012 to Q4 2013. This change in sample can lead to some level of variability in estimates, particularly at more detailed levels and some caution is warranted in the interpretation of trends over the period of its introduction. The first year on year comparisons for quarters based entirely on the new sample are therefore available as of Q4 2014.

However, as the QNHS is a sample survey, there is a level of variance associated with the estimates produced from the QNHS. In the case of the Agriculture, forestry and fishing sector it can be noted that the CSO estimates that the standard error measure associated with employment in this sector was 4,800 in Q4 2014 and this should be borne in mind when considering the employment levels for this sector.

It should also be noted that the estimate for Q4 2013 was particularly high, again likely due to sampling issues, which further skews this particular year-on-year comparison.

We have been in regular contact with the CSO over recent years, and will continue to be so, in an effort to gain greater insight into the figures for employment in the sector. The CSO recently indicated that they intend to revisit the data published since the 2011 Census of Population with a view to producing revised figures for this period.