Mr. Pádraig Dalton:

Internationally comparable data is always more welcome than something that happens at a national level because it gives a better perspective. One of the big discussions at a European level at the minute is around the issue of income consumption and wealth. That is a key discussion, and the CSO has plans to create a new area, a new division, focusing on income consumption and wealth, which is a direct attempt to address the issues the Deputy has raised. For example, on the distribution analysis that we already do, if one looks at the EU survey on income and living conditions, we do an income distribution across the ten deciles, but within each decile we break it down between direct income and social transfers in order that the impact of direct income, which is primarily employed or self-employed income, can be seen.

One can see the impact of that at an overall level in the State but can also get it for each decile across the income distribution, which partially references the wage issue to which the Deputy referred. The more information and details we can provide the better. We are already doing some of that.

On the wealth side, the CSO carried out a wealth survey that was funded by the Central Bank of Ireland for the first time three years ago and we are going to do it again. The CSO wants to formally make this a part of its statistical work programme in order that it is carried out every three years on an ongoing basis. Wealth is seen as the missing piece. We have data on income and consumption but traditionally we have not had data on wealth. We want to introduce that, which will allow us to produce a linked picture between the macro and the micro, which to an extent is missing at present. We also will invest in trying to produce those horizontal outputs that link macro and micro. Rather than having stovepipe publications on national accounts and employment and unemployment and retail sales, we will try to do horizontal pieces that build a picture and link between the macro and the micro.

Sometimes we can drown in the amount of data available and sometimes, before seeking more data we should ask ourselves whether we actually are using all the data we currently have. That is not to state the Deputy's proposal is not a good idea but one thing we always like to see is an increased usage and reliance on the evidence and data that are produced by compilers.