Brian O'Shea
Question:33 Mr. O'Shea asked the Taoiseach when the final payment will be made to those employed in the compilation of the national census; and the reason there has been such a long delay in the making of this payment.
Written Answers. - Census Payment Delay.
The temporary field force recruited by the Central Statistics Office to conduct the 1991 Census of Population consisted of: (a) 334 persons employed in various supervisory grades on a temporary full-time basis; and (b) 3,206 persons employed as temporary part-time enumerators.
At the conclusion of their census of population duties some 154 supervisors and 1,139 enumerators were retained for the census of agriculture (mainly in rural areas).
Salary levels for the temporary supervisory posts consisted of a fixed weekly amount plus a terminal bonus payable on satisfactory completion of duties. In addition to all weekly payments being made on a current basis terminal bonuses have already been paid to those supervisors not retained for the census of agriculture. A combined terminal bonus, reflecting their duties on both censuses, will issue to supervisors retained for the census of agriculture on completion of their work and as soon as the relevant certifying documentation is received in CSO.
Enumerators were paid on a fee basis. The fee involved consideration of a number of distinct elements, such as: training; number of enumerated households; number of enumerated institutions (and their size); number of premises not containing households; business listings; summarisation; travel allowances; bonus for satisfactory completion of duties.
For some elements the level of payment also varied depending on whether the enumerator worked in an urban or rural area. The payment of enumerators, therefore, was not a straightforward matter and involved individual calculations in every case on the basis of reports from the supervisory field staff. Excluding travel allowances, the payments were also subject to the statutory provisions governing PAYE and PRSI contributions.
In most cases the enumerators completed their census of population duties towards the end of May and the reports from supervisors came in during early June — this was the earliest moment from which the individual calculations could commence. Since for obvious reasons all the individual calculations could not be completed and checked simultaneously, it is unavoidable that payments should extend over a few weeks. Every attempt was made to expedite payment in cases where it was known that enumerators were in particularly difficult personal circumstances.
Finally, it must be pointed out that between March and May the enumerators generally received eight weekly payments of £55 (amounting to £440 in total) by way of an advance of their fees while the work was still ongoing. The delay in payment was in respect of the balance due which in some cases was quite small. At this stage final balancing payments have been made to all but eight of the 2,067 enumerators not retained for the census of agriculture.