Tom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

A person can get the impression from the migrant flows that there are more Polish people, for example, in the country than there are really. I have given the factual position. The Minister of State in question, as I understand from his article, was speaking outside the Dáil about his contacts with various organisations representing immigrant bodies.

In the case of gated communities and private apartment blocks, which is, as the CSO knows from some of its other surveys, a growing phenomenon, the field supervisors contacted management companies to obtain access codes. One of the duties of the enumerators was to list in their record books every building capable of being occupied. They were all given a certain number of apartments or houses to visit, and on census night they marked each building on an up-to-date map. They also had to make contact with householders over a nine-week period in April and May, first to distribute blank census forms and then to collect the completed forms. Given the increasing complexity of Irish society, with more people at work and greater mobility, the enumerators made extensive use of calling cards in cases in which contact with householders was not easy to achieve. The CSO issued each of the enumerators with a mobile phone whose number was printed on his or her calling card to facilitate texting or telephoning by the householder to inform the enumerator of the best time to reach the householder at home. Where contact proved very difficult, the CSO allowed mailing of forms. Around 16,000 forms were posted back to the CSO. Every enumerator had a select number of houses or apartments to visit. I accept there are new issues for enumerators with regard to gated communities.

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