Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to deal with poverty indicators first. They are a key element of the performance targets. The difficulty is that there is a time lag between the Central Statistics Office, CSO, figures when compared with the Department of Social Protection figures. What is being done between the Department and the CSO to try to get an indicator that is more time relevant? Due to the time lag, it is very hard for us to compare like with like as regards income inputs - we spend a substantial amount of money - but there is a time lag in the poverty indicators. Is there any engagement with the CSO to come up with a better short-term indicator? As well as keeping longer-term statistics, in the short term, are there indicators that would be more reflective of what is happening on the ground.