asked the Taoiseach the purchasing power of industrial earnings in 1953, 1977 and 1979 for various items in the form of his reply of 31 January 1978.

Estimates of the kind requested by the Deputy are given in the following table. They are based on earnings data for October 1953, March 1977 and September 1978 and on price data for August 1953 February 1977 and August 1978. These are the dates closest to those specified in the question for which relevant information is available. In deriving the estimates the earnings data used are for average earnings of male industrial workers in transportable goods industries, reduced by the appropriate social insurance contributions and by the income tax payable by a married man with two young children, related to the corresponding average hours worked.

Approximate number of minutes which a man with a wife and two young children, on average earnings of male industrial workers (net of direct tax) would have to work to pay for each of the following items.

* 1953—August prices; October earnings.

** 1977—February prices; March earnings.

† 1978—August prices; September earnings.