asked the Minister for Labour the estimated number of man days lost due to (i) official disputes, and (ii) unofficial disputes for the first nine months of this year; and the comparative actual figures for 1977.

The Central Statistics Office are the official source of statistics relating to industrial disputes. The dispute statistics issued by that office do not differentiate between official and unofficial strikes. Statistics are not yet available from that office concerning industrial disputes during 1978.

My Department estimate, however, that 400,000 man-days were lost as a result of industrial disputes during the first nine months of this year. Of these 304,000, 76 per cent, were lost as a result of official strikes and 96,000, 24 per cent, as a result of unofficial strikes.

My Department estimate that the figure for the first nine months of 1977 was 343,000 of which 215,000, 63 per cent, were lost through official strikes and 128,000, 37 per cent, through unofficial strikes.