Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 9 May 2013
Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on the Department of the Taoiseach
Estimates for Public Services for 2013
Vote 1 - President's Establishment (Revised)
Vote 2 - Department of the Taoiseach (Revised)
Vote 3 - Office of the Attorney General (Revised)
Vote 4 - Central Statistics Office (Revised)
Vote 5 - Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (Revised)
Vote 6 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor (Revised)
3:40 pm
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source
I pay tribute to the CSO and its staff for the wonderful way in which they use modern technology to present and make statistics so accessible to the public. I was at an event in my constituency today at which a lady was able to inform me of a very particular fact about the demographics of the town we were in. She knew it based on the census information she had garnered from the CSO's website. At a time of economic and resource difficulties for the CSO and every other organisation, the office continues to step up to the plate. I commend it.
The CSO has a great database of facts, information and statistics, the purpose of compiling which is to harness them for the benefit of the State and its people. Some Departments must go further in utilising the information which is available, however.
In my home town of Greystones we know through the Central Statistics Office, CSO, how many children will turn five each year and will need a school place. However, coming up to September we constantly have this scramble for school places and concern among parents that there will not be an adequate number of school places. I am not sure why the Department of Education and Skills cannot utilise statistical figures more effectively. Is the Minister of State satisfied that that Department is fully harnessing figures from the CSO? Will he convey my concern to the Department and ask that it pay greater attention to CSO figures for children starting school?
The previous Government had given a commitment to the inclusion of a question on autism in the census form. However, for whatever reason, this did not happen in the last census, even though the former Taoiseach was committed to it. Members of the Government are also committed to it, but it never seems to happen. Ireland has one of the worst databanks on the incidence of autism in the European Union. Will the Minister of State and his officials give consideration to including a specific question on autism in the next census? If one does not have the statistics or the facts, it is hard to plan services.
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