asked the Minister for Labour the number of man-days lost in 1980 in the (a) public sector and (b) private sector; and if he will state under each heading the number lost due to unofficial strikes.

Estimated figures prepared in my Department indicate that approximately 404,000 days were lost through strikes in 1980 compared with over 1,427,000 in 1979. It is estimated that disputes in the public sector accounted for 155,000 of the days lost and private sector disputes for 249,000. It is also estimated that 31,000 days in the public sector and 153,000 days in the private sector were lost through unofficial strikes.

The Central Statistics Office, which is the official source of statistics on industrial disputes, will be issuing firm figures in due course.