John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

In any case, they are included in the written reply.

The Deputy referred to section 25 of the Statistics Act 1993, which enables the Taoiseach to make orders making it mandatory for persons or undertakings surveyed by the CSO to provide information sought in the relevant survey. Such orders may also be made by the Minister of State with responsibility for the CSO. When an order under section 25 has been made by the Taoiseach or Minister of State, the CSO may direct persons or undertakings to provide the information in respect of the relevant survey.

The Deputy in his question made specific reference to the HSE in terms of scrutiny of child death records. What he seeks is not possible because the functions of the CSO under the Statistics Act 1993 relate solely to statistical purposes, and these functions do not extend to the scrutiny or assessment of administration by other public bodies. As any examination of the HSE information on child deaths would necessarily include scrutiny of administrative systems and practices, it would not be appropriate to ask the CSO, the sole role of which is confined to statistics, to carry out such an examination. Section 25 purely relates to statistical purposes and would not be appropriate in this regard.

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