Alan Farrell
Question:62. Deputy Alan Farrell asked the Taoiseach the measures being taken to support the CSO in efforts to digitalise the Census process. [51590/21]
View answerWednesday, 20 October 2021
Questions (62)
Written answers
On the advice of the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the Government decided on 15 September 2020 to postpone the 2021 Census to 3 April 2022.
The re-planning for Census 2022 involved revising project timelines and the introduction of new technologies to reduce further potential disruptions, including online interviewing and training.
The 2022 census will continue to be a traditional census where census questionnaires are hand delivered and hand collected by approx. 5,000 enumerators who visit each dwelling in the country. However, technology advances have been deployed in the field operation with the development of a mobile application, the Case Management System (CMS) on enumerator phones, to replace the Enumerator Record Book.
Work has also begun on planning for the next Census after Census 2022 to investigate the feasibility and steps required to conduct an online census, including what it might entail for the Central Statistics Office in regard to staffing and budgetary expenditure as well as the implications for members of the public.
Funding has been approved under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) for the technology development of an online census platform.
The CSO have been engaging with their international colleagues and taking on board their learnings, as well as engaging with the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) in regard to this process.