Mr. Pádraig Dalton:

I will take the last question about how we know whether the data are accurate, first. Particularly on the business statistics side, we have access to a very broad range of information. Regarding the 75 multinational enterprises covered in the large cases unit, we look right across a broad range of data sources. Mr. Connolly and his team pull information from the balance of payments survey; all the annual business statistical surveys we conduct in Cork; the monthly and quarterly statistics, which we call the short-term statistics; the trade data, to which we have access; and the corporation tax data, to which we also have a legal right of access. Therefore, for any given entity, we will look across the range of information and combine the data at source, and they will either paint a consistent picture or they will not. If they do not, we must try to work out whether the discrepancy is explainable. If it is not, we visit the company and tell its representatives that something is not adding up and ask them to explain to us the situation.

That is what happens in the case of the large multinational companies and that is how we can be absolutely sure that we have very high-quality data for them. For many of the other businesses, we are able to cross-check on some variables. The administrative data sources, such as corporation tax, do not always contain all the variables we need, which is part of the problem, but they do contain some variables that we can use to quality-check what the businesses themselves have provided to us. That quality check across different sources is very important for us. In many countries the balance of payments is not compiled by the national statistical institute, but by the central bank. I think there are only four or five countries in Europe in which the national statistical institute compiles the BOP. This is a real advantage for us, particularly when we are trying to compile things like national accounts, because we need access to as much data as possible. That is how we verify the data.

The first question concerned compliance rates. Compliance rates are quite good right across the board. Regarding the compliance rate in our survey of households, we have a very good, professional field force. We have about 100 staff, our permanent field force, who are out knocking on doors every day of the week, 52 weeks of the year. It is a very professional group of people that does an extremely difficult job for us very well. They have gained much experience over the years of how to gain compliance at the doorstep so, in fairness to them, they get a very low refusal rate. However, it is getting more difficult because people's lives are becoming more difficult, but compliance rates are generally quite good. We prosecute serial offenders on the business side because, as I said, on the business side it is a legal obligation to compile the information. We will take them through the courts because it is important that we get compliance. Our job is to compile accurate, independent statistics for the State. Compliance rates are absolutely essential for that, and the trust that respondents have in us is important. Non-compliance happens very rarely. The compliance rate on the business side is very high as well. We have a record of protecting the identity and confidentiality of the information provided to us. That is a core value of the CSO.