asked the Minister for Justice if members of the Garda Síochána are involved in the collection of agricultural statistics.

Yes, and this has been the case since 1924.

Can the Minister say whether or not the system that has been in operation was that people who were unemployed were given jobs at different times of the year when the statistics outlined in the question were collected? Will that practice be continued or will the lay people be done away with?

There is no question of that. I am putting the matter in perspective when I tell the Deputy that in 1976 only 10 per cent of the statistics were collected by members of the Garda Síochána. The policy of employing lay enumerators is still the policy. If there are areas in which there are no suitable persons available then the statistics are collected by the gardaí. There are also areas in which it is particularly suitable for the gardaí to collect the statistics.

I thank the Minister for his reply to my supplementary question, which was much more informative than his answer to my original question. Can the Minister say there is no effort on the part of the Government or the Garda Síochána to increase the percentage from the 10 per cent in 1976?

There is no policy change in regard to the method of collecting these statistics and I do not anticipate the percentage will fluctuate very much one way or the other, depending on local circumstances.