Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy makes a good point. This is where the CSO is now moving to. It is not just about providing data and statistics but also about feeding into Government policy and policymakers, making sure our policies are based on evidence, facts and trends. The Deputy mentioned population movement. I can provide a report from the census data in relation to population movement. We also have trade statistics for imports and exports at EU level. We can provide those also.

In regard to the Deputy's fundamental point about making sure we plan policy that is based on evidence, the CSO has so much knowledge that is confidential and will remain confidential but which can be used in an effective way for a public service to ensure we have the right services in the right place, while also ensuring we are in line with EU policies. We also look at what our counterparts are doing across the water.