Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 13 October 2016
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach
National Economic Output: Director General, Central Statistics Office
10:00 am
Mr. Pádraig Dalton:
The key block of work will be to identify indicators from within the existing national accounts framework to which greater prominence can be given when we are publishing the national accounts data. The group will also consider if there is additional analysis or breakdown that we can give of those indicators. There is also potential for new indicators. The group will certainly be looking at the potential to develop new indicators that could provide much better insights. The overall focus is all about the insights into what is happening in the domestic economy. The group is also going to make some suggestions about new presentations of existing information that can improve understanding. It is about the CSO moving to providing insight so it is not just about publishing statistics. It is about the idea of moving from producing data and statistics into information and knowledge. I think the group will make some recommendations for us as to how we might improve that. I believe we have already made some improvements. I do not know if the committee has seen the second quarter publication where the CSO produced a lot more than it normally does. We produced the electronic release, a press statement and a very useful question and answers document which answered some of the questions people wanted answered. The Deputy might be aware of the newly launched residential property price index. It had the addition of a video where we talked through what the new residential property price index could do. Next week we will produce a new app where a person can key in a three digit code to get information on the average price of houses in their area. The CSO is continuously improving its communications and dissemination and the group will help also with that.
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