asked the Minister for Industry, Commerce and Tourism the number of job losses in the industrial sector in each of the months January, February, and March in the years 1979 and 1980.

Employers are not obliged to notify me of job losses. The only available relevant statistics for the periods referred to by the Deputy relate to the number of proposed redundancies in the manufacturing sector notified to the Department of Labour as qualified under the Redundancy Payments Acts.

In the first quarters of 1979 and 1980 these totalled 1,000 and 1,479 respectively. Monthly figures on proposed redundancies first became available in January 1980 and the figures for January, February and March were 419, 431 and 629 respectively.

Is the Minister concerned at all about the upward trend in the monthly figures at a time when it should be the reverse?

I am not concerned just about this particular quarter—I am concerned at any time of the year when there are job losses. One of our major tasks is job maintenance as distinct from job creation.

Is the Minister aware that the CII place the blame for the difficulties which industry is facing squarely on the Government?

I am not so aware.

In that case the Minister has not been doing his homework.

11.