Tom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 2 to 5, inclusive, together.

As the census is fundamental to planning the future of the country, it is extremely important it is conducted in a professional manner. The CSO employed a field force of close to 5,000 persons, of whom 4,400 were enumerators, to undertake a comprehensive field operation over nine weeks in April and May 2006.

Individual and household forms were available in both English and Irish and could be completed in either of the two official languages. To facilitate recent immigrants, translations of census forms were provided in 11 foreign languages: Arabic, Czech, Chinese, French, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian and Spanish. Respondents could study the language version of their choice while completing either the English or Irish language form.

The enumerated population in April 2006 amounted to 4.24 million persons, representing an increase of 323,000 persons, 8.2% compared with the April 2002 figure. The 2006 census form contained 34 questions relating to individuals which included questions on usual residence, nationality and place of birth. Of the 4.17 million usually resident persons present in the State on 23 April 2006, 420,000, 10%, had a nationality other than Irish, an increase from 224,000, 5.8%, four years earlier.

By comparing the results of successive censuses and making due allowance for the number of births and deaths which occurred in the intervening period it is possible to derive a measure of net migration, that is the difference between inward and outward migration. Between 2002 and 2006 the estimated net immigration flow was 191,000, representing a figure of 47,800 on an average annual basis. It is estimated that just over two thirds of this net inflow occurred in the two years following the accession of the ten new member states to the EU in May 2004.

On the basis of the census results, the CSO estimates between 2004 and 2006 our population increased by approximately 1.6% per annum due to migration alone. Such a rate of growth is unprecedented in our history and is also large by international standards. For example, the corresponding rate in the UK, where there was also significant immigration due to the EU accession, is estimated to have been about a quarter of the Irish level.

On the basis of this rate of net immigration, the CSO estimates the labour force grew by approximately 5% per annum in the two years before the census. This is a high growth rate by any standards and, given the strong link between migration and the labour force, a higher rate of immigration would have resulted in an implausibly high growth in employment.

On the basis of the care with which the census was undertaken and an overall assessment of the results, I am satisfied it provides an accurate measure of the level of the non-Irish national population in April 2006. Suggestions to the contrary are largely based on a misunderstanding of the difference between migrant flows and the population stock. The flow data are much higher as they include many short-term movements, both inward and outward, which do not add to the stock figures.

This issue was addressed in a statistical release issued in December 2007 entitled, Foreign Nationals: PPSN Allocations and Employment, 2002-2006. It showed just under half of the 447,200 non-Irish nationals aged 15 years and over who were allocated a PPSN between 2002 and 2005 had employment in the State in 2006, according to Revenue P35 end-of-year returns. A comparison of the published census data and the Revenue P35 data for non-Irish nationals indicates a high degree of consistency between both sources. The CSO will continue to monitor all relevant sources to ensure the accuracy of its ongoing population and migrations estimates.

I am happy with the degree of coherence between the various CSO data sources dealing with non-Irish nationals and, specifically, with the accuracy of the recent census results relating to these numbers.

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