Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 April 2022
167. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Taoiseach the purpose of a new question in the Census forms relating to the number of bedrooms in a home (H5); the reason this new question was included on the Census form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19247/22]
View answerCSO launched a public consultation on the content of the Census 2022 questionnaire in late 2017. As part of this consultation, members of the public and interested stakeholders were invited to submit their requests for new questions and revisions to existing questions. To assist the CSO in assessing the submissions, a Census Advisory Group (CAG) was formed. Membership of the CAG was drawn from organisations and groups who regularly use census data. The CAG made recommendations on which new and revised questions should be tested during a Census Pilot survey which was held in September 2018. Following the Pilot, the CAG assisted the CSO in deciding which questions should be recommended to government for inclusion on the census form.
As part of this process, suggestions to expand the question on the number of rooms in each dwelling to include the number of bedrooms were proposed by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and IBEC. This proposal of the extension to the question was accepted by the CAG for testing in the Census Pilot on the basis that data derived from the question could provide increased insights into relative levels of crowding in homes across the country. The revised question was successfully tested in the Pilot and subsequently recommended by the CAG for inclusion on the census form. Approval for the inclusion of the question in the census was received by government in 2019.
The CSO also plans to use the data generated from the question in order to meet EU regulatory obligations specified in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/543.
