Mr. Cormac Halpin:

Senator Coffey asked about vacant dwellings. I outlined the methodology we give to enumerators to define a vacant dwelling.

It was agreed to prior to the 2011 census with a group of expert users of the data. As I mentioned, the census is a ten week operation. To an extent, the nuance we can collect on vacant dwellings is somewhat limited. While I would certainly "never say never" in terms of the methodology used, it strikes me that it might be difficult to find out if some vacant dwellings are connected to a utility. It is certainly something at which we can look in the context of ongoing methodological improvements before 2021. It has not been done in the past largely because of the time pressures on enumerators to do what they have to do in terms of the collection of data. To a certain extent, there is an impetus on us to keep their instructions straightforward in order that we obtain consistent data throughout the entire country. There is value in the broader suite of data which we referenced. There would be value in looking at including something like this. It is certainly something at which we can look in the context of future methodology.