asked the Taoiseach if he agrees with the comment contained in the recently released statement by the Central Statistics Office that the increase of 137 people unemployed in national Government services in mid-August is due to "general slackness".

"General slackness" is the expression regularly used by the Central Statistics Office to describe the cause of the seasonal increase in many industrial groups of the live register at the peak holiday period. I consider its use as appropriate in the case of school bus drivers, school cleaners and temporary teachers as it is in the case of industry.