AGENDA
Thursday March 12th, 2026
Board Room, CSO Cork 9.15am to 15.30pm
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Item |
Time |
Description |
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9.15 – 9.30 | Tea & coffee |
| 1 | 9.30 – 9.35 | Minutes of NSB meeting December 4th, 2025 |
| 2 | 9.35 – 10.15 | Director General’s Report to NSB |
| 3 | 10.15 – 11.00 | Presentation on the development of CSO’s AI Strategy and Cloud Strategy
Frankie Kay, Assistant Director General Elaine Lucey, Senior Statistician, Data & Analytics Services Des O’Donoghue, Principal Officer, Cloud Services Brendan O’Dowd, Senior Statistician, Data Science |
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11.00 – 11.15 |
Break |
| 4 | 11.15 – 11.45 | Resilience and Risk in the CSODeirdre Mahony, Assistant Director General, Environment, Ecosystems, Sustainability & Business |
| 5 | 11.45 – 12.45 | Measuring Migration and Internation Protection Applicants in Ireland
CSO Presentations - Tim Linehan, Senior Statistician, Life Events & Demography (5 mins) - Conor Crowley, Statistician, Life Events & Demography (8 mins) - Eimear Heffernan, Statistician, Labour Market & Earnings (5 mins) - Cathal Doherty, Statistician, Population Estimates & Demo (4 mins) - Darragh Turner, Statistician, Income, Consumption & Wealth (4 mins) Department of Justice - Discussants - Gurchand Singh – Head of the Data & Analytics Unit (DAU) (7 mins) - Paul Rockley – Statistician (CSO seconded), DAU |
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12.45 – 13.00 | Photo of the Board – Reception |
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13.00 – 14.00 | Lunch provided in the CSO canteen |
| 6 | 14.00 – 14.30 | Tour of Communications & Presentation
CSO User survey and Website Upgrade John Byrne, PO, Communications & Dissemination, CSO |
| 7 | 14.30 – 15.00 |
Statement of Strategy Development CSO Statement of Strategy – Development & Consultation Sinéad O’Connell, International Policy & Planning, CSO
NSB Strategy Development Planning Colin Hanley, NSB Secretariat |
| 8 | 15.00- 15.15 |
AOB |
| 9 | 15.15 – 15.30 | Private time |
| nlt 15.30 | Depart |
The meeting took place in the Central Statistics Office (CSO), Skehard Road, Mahon, Cork.
Date: Thursday, 12th March 2025, 9:30am to 3.30pm
Members present: Dr. Clíona Saidléar (Chairperson), Dr. Martina Lawless, Ms. Eithne Fitzgerald, Mr. John McGarry, Mr. Jim Scheer, Mr. John Shaw, Dr. Emma Cunningham* and Ms. Jennifer Banim
Non-members in attendance from CSO: Fiona O’Riordan, Frankie Kay, Richard McMahon, Deirdre Mahony2, Elaine Lucey1, Des O’Donoghue1, Brendan O’Dowd1, Elaine O’Mahoney2, Brendan Murphy3, Tim Linehan3, Conor Crowley3, Eimear Hefernan3, Cathal Doherty3, Darragh Turner3, John Byrne4, Rebecca Fitzgerald Smith4, Sinéad O’Connell5, Brian Cahill, Colin Hanley, Seán O’Connor (secretary)
Non-members in attendance:
Gurchand Singh3 (Department of Justice)
* Attended remotely
The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed.
The Director General’s Report was taken as read. The Board engaged in further discussion on several key areas highlighted in the report:
The Board noted the great insight around statistics relating to metered electricity consumption and how such data may be particularly worthwhile as a Research Micro-data File (RMF) or a candidate for the Virtual Data Room (VDR).
The Board discussed the differences between a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Service Level Agreement (SLA) between the CSO and their various counterparts. The CSO noted that a body of work was undertaken to standardise and enhance the various MoU’s it holds with other public bodies, and the SLA was seen as the natural progression of this. In particular, the SLA clearly sets out and defines what the CSO can and cannot do in terms of their relationship with the other body.
The Board queried when the next iteration of the CSO Life Tables would be released. The CSO noted that work is currently underway to establish an expert group to examine key questions regarding Life Tables, such as methodology etc. with a planned release date to occur in H2 2026.
The Board discussed the further strategic usage of the PPSN in terms of statistical potential and potential enhancements around it. It was noted that areas in health may be well positioned to utilise this for their work, but other bodies may not be. Updates were also provided relating to the Eircode and Unique Business Identifier, which Revenue are the owners of. On a broader point it was noted that progression is being made on Eircode legislation but also work is ongoing around areas such as a digital and business wallets which may impact on areas such as PPSN collection for other bodies.
A discussion was had on the National Disability Survey (NDS) and its importance in providing insights and policy relevant evidence. It was noted that a high degree of consultation was carried out in this area, with a good degree of buy in from stakeholders. The pilot survey being run will help to provide insights and other surveys, such as the Irish Health Survey, will also assist with this. The Board noted that it’s not possible for the NDS to query respondents on an exhaustive list of topics, but there are possibilities to supplement and compliment results from this survey with additional CSO sources for insights (Irish Health Survey, Labour Force Survey, Census etc.).
The Board discussed their interest in the Social Cohesion survey. It was noted that the pilot survey will be undertaken on the topic, with the main survey being carried out in 2027.
The Board queried about the possibility of highlighting the distinctions between new CSO innovations and business as usual (BAU) outputs in the Director General Report. An example was highlighted relating to the update in the Consumer Price Index classification scheme and change in methodology for selected European Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose Version 2 (ECOICOP Ver. 2).
The Board noted the work of the CSO’s Industrial emissions analysis, highlighting the very interesting findings. Moreover, the Board queried the differences in population counts from IPEADS, and the PME with the CSO noting they are two different products which use different population concepts, which can explain the difference in counts in population numbers.
The Board discussed some of the work being carried out in assisting with standards in local government. The CSO noted that there was a range of different initiatives with different local government groups, but local authorities themselves being the key driver in terms of getting their data holdings to a sufficient level of maturity.
The Board discussed preparations for the Children in Care study. At present the initial study is planned with a view to running a longitudinal study. Only one cohort will be used in this study. It was noted that such a survey was extremely complex, and a high degree of planning is underway, along with consultation with TUSLA to better understand how any longitudinal element can continue over time.
The Board noted their interest in the housing vacancy publication series and queried whether it was possible to measure long-term vacancy, as well as those properties which may only be vacant for a short period. It was highlighted that both sets of metrics are provided within the publication.
The Board noted the importance of the distinction between long term and short term vacancy which the publication provides for.
The Board received presentations on the CSO’s strategy on AI and usage of the Cloud.
The presentations focused on the current and potential future usage of AI within the CSO and the security and governance which underpins it. Furthermore, regarding the Cloud, the presentation focused on CSO’s current experience with cloud infrastructure, along with many of the learnings from the migration of certain areas.
The Board thanked the CSO for the very informative presentations and this was followed by a round of discussions on the topics. The Board queried whether any ethical or other considerations are given in terms of which service provider to engage with and how easy it can be to port systems between providers. It was noted that most systems are portable, and depending on how you define your business needs, it would be possible to change providers if needed.
A wider discussion was had regarding the potential for a Europe only approach in terms of service providers and any potential impact this may have for quality of service. It was noted that direction on these issues were a statewide conversation rather than a statistical only one.
Regarding the use of AI for Official Statistics it was noted that there is a CIO group established across government to share experiences and learning.
The Board received a presentation on resilience and risk in the CSO. In summary, the presentation provided insight into the CSO’s risk management policy and the other frameworks that underpin and monitor risk across the organisation. Moreover, information was provided regarding the current areas that CSO sees as key risks, along with evolving risk areas.
The Board queried as to whether there are any external representatives on the current Risk Board within the CSO. The CSO noted that while some of the other governance and advisory boards have external members, the Risk Board currently does not, but it was something to consider.
It was also noted that in some cases risk was coming in during the legislative process e.g. privately held data can potentially be used to develop outputs but could cease to exist and this type of risk should be managed and mitigated from the offset.
The Board discussed and noted it would be useful if risk areas could connect back to overall strategy to better understand how certain risks could impact the CSO in fulfilling strategic goals.
The Board received several presentations relating to topics on migration (flows and integration into the labour market).
In summary, the presentations provided context on the upcoming legislative requirements for enhanced reporting on migration statistics, and CSO plans to meet these. CSO has already provided additional insights for users regarding labour market outcomes for migrants in Ireland.
Legislative change regarding quicker decision making for those looking to claim asylum in Ireland may have a knock-on impact on labour market participation. Future statistical analysis of this topic will need to be aware of the potential impact on the data of any legislative change.
More widely it was noted that there is a cross-governmental group which is examining migration and integration and that there is a growing need for a strong evidence base to help inform decisions. It was noted that CSO data is being used to help inform this work and that gaps in the evidence base could feed into discussions on potential future data needs. Areas of future need could be analysis of the gig and shadow economy and analysis of English language students. On the latter, the Department of Justice noted they have data on this cohort and utilising a VDR setting or a frontier-type analysis may help in providing insights into this cohort of the population.
The necessity of good data standards and common classifications to ensure a standard classification is captured on nationality across different data holdings was also noted.
It was noted that the NDI and the VDR facility will support the interrogation of data to answer emerging questions on demography. The Equality Data Strategy will provide a basis for the collection of equality data, in line with the strategy for the NDI and will help to provide insight on hard-to-reach groups.
The Board was brought on a tour of the communications section of the CSO, which was followed by a presentation. The presentation looked at the results of the latest iteration of the CSO user survey and provided insights into how the CSO website is perceived across different user groups. Future work highlighted for the Board included targeted focus group work on how these different user groups operate and navigate the CSO website.
A follow up from the Board noted around potential enhancements to PxStat which may be of benefit to users. One such example included enhanced descriptors to note the breakdowns available in PxStat for classifications such as Age Group or Region.
The Board received a presentation which outlined the process for the development of the latest version of the CSO Statement of Strategy. This focused on discussion and observations from the statement of strategy and the consultation which was undertaken with various departments and agencies.
This was followed up by a discussion on the last iteration of the NSB strategy and how it was developed. The Board discussed potential workstreams including desk research on the cross government and international data space and the rapid evolution anticipated in same. The consultation process and stakeholders were also discussed.
No items were brought forward under AOB.
The Board members had a private discussion.
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