I welcome the Chief Whip and Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach, Deputy Chambers, and his official, who are attending to deal the Revised Estimates for the Central Statistics Office, CSO. He will make an opening statement and members will then be free to ask questions if they wish. I remind members to turn off their phones and advise them that, while they are entitled to absolute privilege while on the grounds of the Houses, they may be entitled to only limited privilege if they are not participating directly from Leinster House.
Vote 4 - Central Statistics Office (Revised)
The CSO is Ireland's national statistical institute and is responsible for the production, co-ordination and qualitative oversight of official statistics for Ireland. The CSO is an independent office of the Civil Service, under the aegis of the Taoiseach. The National Statistics Board, with the agreement of the Taoiseach, has the general function of guiding the overall strategic direction of the CSO under the Statistics Act 1993. This independent position reflects international best practice for the organisation of official statistics. The role of the director general of the CSO, as prescribed by the Statistics Act 1993, provides that the officeholder act independently and exercise sole responsibility in professional statistical matters.
EU legislation introduced in 2015 fundamentally changed the role of national statistical institutes throughout the Union. Following the enactment of this legislation, the director general of the CSO now has responsibility for co-ordinating and overseeing the quality of all European official statistics in Ireland. It is thus the responsibility of the CSO to ensure that all compilers of European statistics in Ireland adhere to the quality and methodological standards set out by the EU and detailed in the European statistics code of practice. Under the terms of the Statistics Act 1993, the director general may request any public authority to consult and co-operate with him or her for the purpose of assessing the potential of records as a source of statistical information. In addition, the Act stipulates that a public authority shall consult with the director general where it intends to introduce, revise or extend the retrieval of information or make a statistical survey.
There is a significant international dimension to the work of the CSO. The EU institutions - EUROSTAT and the European Central Bank, ECB, primarily - the International Monetary Fund, IMF, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD, and other international bodies are all important users of official statistics. These bodies also have a significant role in defining and monitoring standards for the compilation of comparable information. The CSO subscribes to the standards set out in the UN's fundamental principles of official statistics and the European statistics code of practice. Indeed, the CSO will undergo a review of its alignment with these standards in February 2022 known as a EUROSTAT peer review. The review process forms part of the European statistical system strategy to monitor the implementation of the code of practice. The objective of such reviews is to consider the compliance of members with the code of practice to ensure the implementation of the common quality framework underpinning European statistics and to help the statistical authorities to further improve and develop their national statistical systems. The reviews cover all the member states of the EU and the European Free Trade Association, EFTA, as well as EUROSTAT. The CSO will be assessed under the 16 principles of the European statistics code of practice. The outcome of the peer review will be a set of recommendations to assist the CSO to further improve and develop the Irish statistical system.
The CSO plays a vital role in the functioning of the State in providing independent and verifiable data to citizens and policymakers on a broad range of topics including social, economic and environmental issues. The ability of the CSO to inform has been evident throughout the pandemic. It delivered on the vast majority of the planned statistical work programme for 2021, publishing 439 releases and publications. Of these, 40 were new products providing insight into issues as varied as the business impact of Brexit on SMEs, productivity in Ireland in the period 2010 to 2019, the rental sector in Ireland and ecosystem accounts.
The CSO has continued to publish a series of new surveys, outputs and formats to capture the evolution of Ireland's economy and society since the Covid-19 outbreak. Alongside the new products developed and delivered to provide additional insight, the CSO has provided statistical and analytical expertise and new data services to support the analysis of health data sources in a safe and secure environment. The CSO has continued to supported epidemiological modelling, analysis of both health and real-time data, and analysis to provide insight regarding trends and identifying emerging issues, all to support central government's response to the pandemic.
The planned 2021 census of population was deferred because of the Covid-19 pandemic and will now take place on 3 April 2022. The publicity campaign for the ten-week live-census field operation will commence with a launch on 3 March and cover all media channels, informing people about the census and their obligations and encouraging responses. The delivery of forms to the public will commence at the end of February, with all forms expected to be collected before the end of May. The processing of the forms will begin immediately on receipt and is expected to run until the end of December. A preliminary population count will be released before the end of June. The CSO is making every effort to ensure that the census being undertaken will be comprehensive, inclusive and safe and will provide valuable and accurate data for our country in the years ahead.
The CSO has developed a significant new national survey on the prevalence of sexual violence in Ireland. The survey involves the collection of highly sensitive personal data from householders in a manner that is confidential, ethical and designed to support accurate and reliable survey results. Achieving an appropriate sample, ensuring confidentiality and offering appropriate supports to participating householders and CSO staff are all key priorities. A pilot survey was conducted between April and June 2021, which has informed arrangements for the formal survey, the field operation of which is planned to commence in June 2022 and run until November.
Work is progressing on the data collection and processing of the next wave of the State's longitudinal study of children and youth, Growing Up in Ireland, from 2023. A questionnaire for the pilot survey of the 25-year-old cohort will go into the field in April or May 2022. Planning is under way to return face-to-face collection at airports and ports, which ceased in March 2020.
The household budget survey, which was delayed because of its requirement for in-household interaction with a CSO field interviewer, will go into the field later this year, surveying all members of a sampled household on their expenditure. Data collected from this survey are used for many purposes but are now required to re-weight the consumer price index. The CSO has also continued to develop new interactive graphics and infographics, new formats such as bulletins and frontier series, and outputs to provide the additional insight needed by the public, businesses and policymakers both on the impact of the pandemic and across more general social, economic and environmental issues. The CSO produced 189 press releases and 127 infographics in 2021 to support understanding of the data and provide insight for citizens, businesses and policymakers alike.
The CSO has continued to publish key economic indicators and tracked the impact of the crisis on business sectors and the economy via monthly exports and imports of goods, the quarterly national accounts, government deficit and debt, the quarterly balance of payments, the labour force survey, the monthly unemployment and live register, the survey on income and living conditions, births, deaths and population estimates, the consumer price index and the harmonised index of consumer prices, the wholesale price index, monthly industrial production and turnover, and the retail sales index, among others.
Being both trustworthy and confidential are core strategic values for the CSO. Security is embedded in its culture. Significant attention and awareness are allocated to the protection of CSO data and information systems from unauthorised access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification or destruction. Continuing development of the organisation's security capability is ongoing. A series of both practical and tactical measures are being implemented to militate against cyberattacks. These include, but are not limited to, security reviews, annual cyber training, continuous strengthening of data governance and the ongoing deployment of new technology security initiatives throughout the organisation.
As Ireland continues to move out of the pandemic, the CSO will provide necessary insights into how our economy and society is reacting and progressing. It is crucial that the office has sustainable, secure access to data and can reuse high value data sources in the form of administrative data and some private data sources to provide timely and accurate data that are meaningful to policymakers.
The quality of data is crucial and the CSO is driving the building of national data infrastructure and the use of unique identifiers such as the personal public service number, PPSN, Eircode postcodes and business identifiers to ensure that data throughout the Civil Service and public service is collected, managed and shared efficiently and effectively. This work will support the Civil Service renewal action plan themes of digital first and embedding innovation and evidence-informed policy and services.
The CSO has the unique expertise to support and deliver on both these themes within the office and across the Civil Service. This will build on the quality of data across the data ecosystem, which will support the delivery of official statistics and deliver insights for the creation and evaluation of policy.
The office is also embarking on a digital transformation journey, enabling it to modernise and provide for the capability to meet increasing Government, business and citizen expectations for digital services. A digital first census forms the centrepiece, enabling the citizen to complete future censuses of population online. The office has obtained €1.5 million from the national recovery and resilience plan for the development of an online platform for data collection. This funding will assist with the planning and implementation of the digital census programme of work on a multi-annual basis. The CSO has acquired this funding for five years to a total value of more than €9 million.
Turning to the office's budget, the net allocation for 2022 is €103.485 million. The increase in 2022 reflects the cyclical impact of CSO’s activities, primarily for the additional staff required for the 2022 census. This census of population includes an uplift in census headquarter staff plus provision for more than 5,500 temporary staff, who are required to distribute and collect the census forms.
Members of the public are increasingly aware of, and able to access, statistics and indicators on the social, economic and environmental issues, as demonstrated by more than 23 million web hits on the CSO website and more than 19 million hits on PXStat in 2021.
The funding provided reflects the Government’s commitment to the CSO to meet its obligations under national and EU law, continue to develop the Irish statistical system, deliver a census of population and produce new outputs to meet domestics demand through the provision of trusted and robust official statistics.
I thank the Minister of State very much. I call Deputy Mairéad Farrell.
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit as teacht os comhair an choiste.
My first question relates to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, NISRA, being the statistical body in the North. The Minister of State mentioned the work he is doing with regard to businesses, etc., and the economy. It obviously comprises the information in the North and the CSO is a southern equivalent. I am aware that funding was allocated as part of the national development plan, NDP, for shared island projects. I am interested to know if there are any plans for closer integration of the work of these two statistical agencies. We are an all-island economy and having access to all-island data that is comparable is important. It should be accessible to everyone.
I thank the Deputy. As she mentioned, it is a very pertinent question. There is strong collaboration and linkage between the CSO and NISRA and there is ongoing engagement around that. There is also planning in progress around certain parameters that are provided in terms of statistics. We can send the Deputy a detailed note on the nature of that collaboration. As she said, it is important from an all-island perspective that we have strong links between both bodies, North and South.
That would definitely be of interest. With regard to the census, will it contain any additional questions that might be pandemic-related? It will be an interesting census to look back on in years to come given the changes people have gone through over the past few years. Will there be questions on the increase in people working from home or anything else that could be pandemic-related?
I am also interested in any change to the religion options. Previously there were options for different religions and "No religion" in the responses. Will there be an option to select "Atheist" or "Agnostic"? The Minister of State might give more detail on that.
As the Deputy will be aware, detailed preparations went into the census. It was finalised prior to 2019 before we knew about Covid-19, which we have heard much about it since. Obviously, to have a robust system underpinning the questionnaire and developing the statistical framework is important. The pandemic intercepted the census last year so it was not possible to integrate questions around the pandemic specifically. We can supply census forms to the committee, which might be useful in order that members will be able to see the exact type of questionnaire. We want to get good engagement from the political system to promote the census and getting maximum participation is crucial to reflect our population. We can give the Deputy detail on that.
She asked a question on religion. There is a variety of questions. The nature in which they are set out was developed with strong project governance that was set in 2019. Now that we are going to see the issuing of those forms, we can send the committee the detail of the census forms and the nature of questions. It is in our collective interest to ensure that people engage and participate in it in a way that allows us, as policymakers, to respond to the needs of our population.
Yes, absolutely. I understand that it was done before Covid-19 hit us. It is unfortunate, in a way, because I think it would be interesting to see those different changes happened as a result reflected. Many people will look back in years to come at this particular census.
The Minister of State will be aware that Benefacts is a provider of high-quality data to the CSO. It was raised in the Committee of Public Accounts and other places that it looks like it will be closing. It provides information on the non-profit sector here. It is my understanding that its data is relied on by the CSO and without it, there would be a significant gap in the ability to prepare the national accounts. Has the CSO raised any concerns with the Minister of State about the upcoming closure of Benefacts and the end of the provision of that information to the office?
I am aware of the issue around Benefacts, which has been raised in the Dáil. I have been informed by the CSO that it is interested in a replacement and in the data. I am aware that another Department within government is considering that work at the moment. The CSO is anxious that all data sources are live, active and updated. I believe another Department is considering that at the moment.
I have one final question. If possible, could the Minister of State give a little bit of clarification on something he said this morning whereby there would be an open consultation process and that the project is going back to tender?
Is the Deputy referring to Údarás na Gaeltachta?
We are hoping to issue a public consultation process very shortly, which will allow the public to engage in the review, and then we are hoping to conclude. Obviously, the two tenders failed in that we did not get a supplier in that process. There is active engagement now with the Office of Government Procurement, OGP, to find an appropriate structure to do that work. The plan is that they will happen in parallel.
So, it would not be going back out to tender. It has gone twice. That is what I want to understand.
There are rules around this-----
Of course.
-----once it has failed. If we have not secured a supplier on two occasions then different rules apply. The OGP-----
The more direct route.
Yes. The plan is to move as quickly as possible to progress both in parallel so we do not have any more time lost on the issue.
The Minister of State has given us a detailed submission regarding Vote 4. I believe we have concluded our consideration of that Vote. We can now inform the-----
If I could, I will raise one item before the Chairman moves on. To what extent is modern technology likely to be used in the compilation of the census? Will it be done at the enumerator level or as part of the census?
It is a very good question. The field generators will use new technology for data collection. That is ongoing. As I mentioned in my opening statement, there is also investment in technology and data collection, which I believe is €1.5 million this year.
Ensuring we have appropriate technology around data collection is important. As I said, there will be newer technology for enumerators when they conduct this year's census.