asked the Minister for the Environment the number of employees in the building and construction industry in 1978, 1979 and 1980; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

On 19 December 1980, the Central Statistics Office issued a statement indicating that the estimated number of persons at work in the building and construction industry in April 1980 was 103,000. It was also stated that, arising from the results of the 1979 Census of Population and from data for the labour force surveys taken in 1977 and 1979, the revised estimate of the number at work in the industry was 87,000 in April 1977 and 101,000 in April 1979. Corresponding figures for April 1978 are not available.

Could the Minister of State say what is the estimated figure for 1981, if the final figures are not available?

Estimated at 102,000.

There is a drop in building employment. Thank you.

In answer to Deputy FitzGerald——

A brief supplementary, please.

I will make it as brief as I can. I do not waste time needlessly. In answer to Deputy FitzGerald the Minister of State appears to have admitted a drop in the prospective figures for employment in the building industry in 1981. How is that reconciled with the assertion made by the Minister for Finance last week that there was a perceptible upturn in the building trade this year?

I have no doubt there is——

Is it being done by robots?

——and I do not see how moving from 101,000 in April 1979 to 102,000 is a downturn.

It is the move from 103,000 in April 1980 to 102,000 in 1981 that shows the drop.

Is it not a fact that the Minister for Finance is a bluffer?