National Statistics Board
Minutes
NSB 2012/6/2
VENUE: Department of An Taoiseach
Date: Tuesday, 23 October 2013
The following members attended: Dr. Pat O’Hara, (Chairperson), Mr. Paul Sweeney, Professor Philip Lane, Mr. Fergal O’Brien, Mr. Ciaran Dolan, and Mr. Pádraig Dalton.
Apologies were received from the following members: Mr. Michael McGrath and Mr. John Callinan.
Mr. Aidan Punch and Mr. Joe Treacy were also in attendance. Mr. Donal Kelly acted as Secretary.
The minutes of the previous meeting were adopted without amendment.
The Director General briefed the Board on recent developments within CSO.
A number of significant recent publications were outlined and discussed.
The Director of Social Statistics in Eurostat and his team visited CSO on October 22nd and 23rd. This was not an audit or compliance visit, but rather an exchange of views on the future of social statistics. Eurostat has recognised the importance of many of the initiatives that CSO is undertaking, such as the Administrative Data Centre and the transformation of household surveys project.
The Professional Diploma in Official Statistics for Policy Evaluation went live on September 21st 2012. This course has been developed by CSO in association with the Institute of Public Administration (IPA) and is being delivered by CSO statisticians. The course is fully subscribed with 36 students. Feedback has been very positive so far, in particular, on the applied data laboratory sessions.
The Director General outlined to the Board, issues in relation to the recent Sunday Times article, and emphasised the seriousness with which issues of confidentiality and data security are taken in the CSO. The DPC was made fully aware of the issues involved at all stages.
The Director General informed the Board that following a Top Level Appointment Committee (TLAC) process culminating in an interview held on Monday October 15 2012, Dr. Steve MacFeely has been appointed as Assistant Director General of Social and Demographic Statistics in the CSO.
Mr. Aidan Punch updated the Board on the work of the Government Finance Statistics Liaison Committee (GFSLC) and the General Government Debt Group (GGD). Both groups are working to ensure that there will be a smooth transition from the Department of Finance to CSO of responsibility for the transmission of Ireland’s EDP data. The CSO plans to publish the quarterly and annual data commencing in April 2013. This will ensure greater transparency among users.
He also noted that Eurostat had recently lifted two reservations from the Irish data, concerning the treatment of NAMA and restructured banks in the national accounts data. The methodology developed by CSO to classify government interventions on the national balance sheet has been recognized internationally.
The Board considered and discussed the second draft review of the NSB Strategy 2009-2014. The document contains a detailed examination of progress against the 19 recommendations contained in the NSB Strategy. In addition, a number of themes related to the further development of the ISS, system-wide data protection issues and the challenges facing official statistics are explored in the document.
The Board suggested that the document should emphasise the importance of maintaining user-confidence and the quality of the CSO’s statistical programme, despite the challenges presented by ongoing resource constraints and the drive for greater efficiency.
A final draft of the document will be circulated to Board members before the end of November, with a view to publication in early December.
The next meeting of the Board will held on Tuesday, December 11th 2012.