asked the Minister for Finance if he is aware of the serious hardship caused by allowing an inflationary situation to continue, thereby causing price rises in many commodities; and if he will take steps to remedy the situation.

54.

andMr. Harte asked the Minister for Finance the action, if any, the Government intends taking to deal with the recent upward spiral in the cost of goods and services.

55.

asked the Minister for Finance if, in view of the decision of the Heads of Government in Paris recently that priority should be given to the fight against inflation and to a return to price stability, he will indicate the steps the Government are taking to comply with this decision.

I propose, with your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, to take Questions Nos. 53, 54 and 55 together.

The Government are acutely conscious of the economic and social evils attendant upon inflation and have consistently endeavoured to bring the rate of increase in prices down to more tolerable levels. We have ratified the two national wage agreements which, although inflationary, we regarded as being in the best interests of the community. We have assumed wide powers to investigate and control an extensive range of prices and charges and, more recently, we have promoted legislation to extend and strengthen these powers, especially in the field of restrictive practices.

The Deputies will appreciate that inflation has been endemic in the Irish and international economies for quite a considerable time and that, consequently, it cannot be eradicated overnight. However, Government policies are meeting with some success; the most recent indicators show that the rate of price increase so far this year is lower than in the same period of last year.

Would the Minister not agree that the consumer price index for the last quarter shows a bigger increase than at any time in the last two years, an increase at an annual rate of 11 per cent?

I notice Deputy FitzGerald is very keen, when it suits him, on taking portion of a year and extending it on an annual basis and then, by implication, suggesting that that is what the increase is for the year. The fact is, as I have stated, that the most recent indicators show that the rate of price increase so far this year is lower than for the same period last year.

Would the Minister say how he defines "so far this year"— between what date and what date?

From the beginning of the year until——

Until mid-August? There is no indication from 1st January, so I need to pin the Minister down. I just want to know how he fiddled it.

Since the Deputy feels like that, he will disbelieve any answer I give. Does he want an answer? He is discrediting the answer before he gets it. Does he want it?

I do, indeed.

Then at least would he try to cover up his bias and partisanship by not discrediting the answer before he even hears it? The first three-quarters of 1972.

Does that mean from mid-November to mid-August, that being a period of three-quarters?

That is so, I believe.

A nice piece of selectivity.

I am sorry. Mid-February to mid-August.

The hand is rapidly mending. That is two-quarters.

No. The figures available at mid-February, mid-May and mid-August. That makes three-quarters. I know that these simple matters of counting one, two, three are beneath the dignity of the Deputy, but that is the fact.

There are two quarters in February and August.

The Deputy need not try to twist it. They are the figures available for the quarters ending on those three dates, and he can count them, one, two, three.

The Minister is not being serious. Would the Minister agree——

I am calling Question No. 56.