Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 17 May 2022
160. Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne asked the Taoiseach the estimated cost of producing a survey on income and living conditions for County Clare; the estimated household sample size required; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23950/22]
View answerThe main function of the Survey of Income and Living Conditions (SILC) is the collection of information on the income and living conditions of different types of households in Ireland, in order to derive indicators on poverty, deprivation and social exclusion. The most recent figures available are for 2021.
The Survey of Income and Living Conditions is one of a group of household surveys collected by the CSO’s field force of 100 nationwide interviewers, who contact approximately 2,000 households per week at an annual cost of approximately €5 million. These interviewers also collect data for the quarterly Labour Force Survey, the General Household Survey and regular surveys on health, transport and a variety of other topics.
The survey is carried out on an annual basis under Regulation (EU) 2019/1700. The survey has been designed to provide accurate estimates for the NUTS2 regions. It is not possible to produce robust county level estimates from the survey.
The design of statistical surveys like the SILC does not involve economies of scale and the cost of a survey designed to provide county-level estimates would be a multiple of the present annual survey cost of €5 million. Achieving representative samples at county level on which to base estimates on poverty, deprivation, and social exclusion indicators would require a significant increase in the number of households interviewed and the number of field interviewers required to interview them. It would also impose a large additional response burden on households.
