asked the Taoiseach (a) the estimated cost of the 1981 census; (b) the estimated number of people appointed as enumerators and supervisors; (c) the number of people already employed who have been appointed; (d) the number appointed from the unemployment register; (e) the reason so few unemployed people were appointed; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

8.

asked the Taoiseach the number of persons, male and female, appointed as census enumerators in north and south Tipperary and County Waterford; the recruitment procedure; and the number of persons appointed who were registered as unemployed.

With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 and 8 together.

The total cost of the 1981 census is estimated at £5,500,000.

All appointments to the field staff employed in the 1981 census of population were made on the basis of competitive interviews. Twenty-nine regional supervisors were appointed following a publicly advertised competition in July 1980 and 298 field supervisors were appointed following a publicly advertised competition in September-October 1980. All the supervisory posts are full-time and the question of other employment does not arise. Some 80 of the supervisors were unemployed or needy before appointment.

The total number of enumerators appointed was 3,185. The system of recruitment adopted for these part-time posts commenced with a special competition confined to persons on the live register. Managers of the local offices of the Department of Social Welfare distributed the application forms for the special competition to persons on the live register whom they considered potentially qualified for the positions. The closing date specified for the return of the completed forms to the local offices was 31 October 1980. All the application forms returned by that date were forwarded immediately to the Central Statistics Office. On receipt of the applications in the Central Statistics Office they were reviewed by census officers who short-listed the applicants whom they considered suitable for interview. Arrangements for holding the interviews were then made in co-operation with the National Manpower Service. The interviews were held during the second half of November and the first week in December 1980. The total number of applications received was 1,964 of which 1,531 were short-listed as suitable for interview. Constraints of time and staff resources limited the number of centres at which interviews could be held but it was found possible to call just more than one half of the short-listed applicants for interview by these special boards. The remaining short-listed applicants who could not be given interviews in the special competition were included instead in the open competition described below.

The second recruitment stage followed a publicly advertised open competition in January 1981. All the applicants short-listed in the special competition who could not then be given interviews were called for interview in the open competition. The procedure followed in the open competition provided for offering appointments, where practicable, to qualified unemployed candidates irrespective of their place in the order of merit. The records available for the open competition indicate that nearly 12,000 applicants were interviewed of whom more than 2,000 were unemployed or needy.

Following the competitions described appointments were offered, with priority being given to qualified unemployed persons subject to impeding factors such as the lack of the use of a car in the case of appointment to a rural enumeration area or the prior appointment of an unemployed person to relevant areas.

The total number of enumerators appointed is 3,185. Appointments offered to unemployed or needy persons totalled some 1,200. The number who accepted was 925 of whom 785 were on the live register. From the records it would appear that 929 enumerators had full-time employment and 114 had part-time employment.

Separate figures for appointments in county areas are not available at this stage.

Is the Minister aware that Deputies were informed by the CSO that priority would be given to those on the unemployment list and to the most needy people whereas in the reply just given he tells us that only 925 were appointed from that category? Is the Minister in a position to give a breakdown of the figures in respect of those appointed from the live register and those to whom he refers as the needy? I am asking this because in one instance of which I am aware the person appointed was the wife of a farmer who has 300 acres of land. Is the Minister aware also that numerous people who had been successful in the leaving certificate examination were overlooked?

I regret that not all those appointed were unemployed. One of the first actions I took on this matter was to inform the CSO that we would prefer that where possible unemployed people would be appointed and they assured me that that was done.

Is the Minister telling us that out of 127,000 unemployed persons, it was not possible to find 3,000 who were competent to carry out this work?

The CSO assure me that they took as high a number of unemployed persons as possible. I regret that not all those appointed were unemployed.

Can the Minister explain how from 70 to 80 per cent of those who were appointed happened to be active Fianna Fáil supporters?

Order, please.

Up to 80 per cent of them were active Fianna Fáil supporters and that seems to have been the real criterion for their appointment.

That is a statement.

We know that most people are Fianna Fáil supporters anyway and that in addition they are usually the best people.

Since when? When the Government go to the country, they will find out whether that is the case.

Order, please.

Why, if the Government were concerned that those on the unemployment register should be taken on, was not the decision adopted of going through the register and seeking people who are qualified, because I understand from the Minister's reply that they only dealt with people who applied for jobs rather than going to the register to seek out people? Is that correct?

I think it is the policy to let people apply if they want the jobs.

So, there are unemployed people who could have been employed, who may not have seen the advertisement and who were not even approached about it?

I think they would have applied if they wanted the jobs.

If they had known about them.

They were advertised, of course.

The other question I wanted to ask is, may I take it that the number of unemployed who are now employed at this work accounts for the slowing down in the growth of seasonally adjusted unemployment? Is that correct?

That is outside the scope of the question.

Do the people who have been taken on off the live register——

We are dealing with census returns here.

——account for the slight slowing down in the growth of seasonally adjusted unemployment?

The fact that the live register is down is what matters, not how it is down.

It is not.

It was supposed to be down to 27,000.

In the final process for the selection of enumerators, were they given a course in law so that they could interpret questions of doubt in relation to the legal status of people who might or might not be married?

Would the Minister please answer Ceist 9?

Would the Minister agree that 75 per cent of the people who got the jobs are already in full-time employment?

No, they are not.

Certainly they are. We have 127,000 people unemployed and you could not get 3,000——

The Deputy's party could not even pay to count them.