Dáil debates

Wednesday, 8 June 2011

Estimates for Public Services 2011

 

1:00 pm

Photo of Catherine MurphyCatherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

If, as expected, the Dáil decides to pass this motion to grant the CSO access to these funds, the Dáil and the Government in particular must take responsibility for the information the State effectively is buying. There must be immediate action in respect of service planning and provision because what is the point of this exercise otherwise? I also wish to put on record that I am fully supportive of a five-year census. I often have made good use of census data in the past to demonstrate inequity in service provision and in particular for those areas in which there has been rapid population expansion. While the work was well organised and carried out diligently by the enumerators, I share the concerns regarding the aforementioned company that received the contract. However, this information is important and has a wide application.

The information provided by the census is time-dependent and must be collected, collated and used because with each day, week or month that passes, the information becomes further out of date and as a result, timing is of great importance for service provision. A strong example of the State's sluggishness in using the census results occurred when the decision was made at some point not to use the preliminary figures to commence the redrawing of constituencies. I recall making this argument strongly in the Dáil in 2006, because a timing issue had arisen between the five-year term of the Dáil and the census figures. At that time, I was informed by the then Minister, Dick Roche, that it would be illegal to use the preliminary figures. This response annoyed me to such an extent that together with Deputy Finian McGrath, I took a constitutional case in which it was established that it was in the common good to institute the redrawing of constituencies on the basis of the preliminary figures. This is what will happen, with the final decision being confirmed by the results. Previously, the timing of elections had meant there was an inequity in that some areas were under-represented while others were over-represented for protracted periods, with the result that each vote was not equal.

While that was one aspect pertaining to representation, other areas also are important. I believe fundamentally that it is necessary to plan, which is the reason the census is an important vehicle. Expensive advertisements were rightly used to encourage people to fill out their census forms. The message contained therein was the information needed to plan for transport, health care, education, the requisite number of housing units and so on. However, while a broad range of information is gathered, there is little evidence that such information is used effectively. If one considers the education system, anyone who has been involved in politics for a number of years at local government or national level will be aware that when one reaches this time of year, school principals in some schools must suddenly wonder how they will provide accommodation for their incoming pupil numbers. Where is the evidence the census is used to fully plan for this? One can only overlay a census on a good system, which shows the chaos underneath or the lack of a coherent system. This illustrates the need for a reform of the system to make it more rational. For example, a need for an extra school or classrooms involves a lengthy process that is more concerned with the filtering of annual funding than it is about being an effective system for delivering schools and classrooms. For instance, no longer can the number of baptisms in an area be relied upon as a means of knowing how many children will require primary school places because many people do not practice religion or are of mixed faiths so the census in this instance becomes even more important.

The health care system requires a coherent system for gathering information on the age profile of the population as older people are more dependent on it. Our health system consists of a public and a private sector, a public health care system with a private element to it and a private voluntary health care system. The politics on how services are delivered mitigates against delivering adequate services and best value for money.

In the planning system, land use and planning are not linked. If the census statistics had been used to estimate the number of households we might have avoided the situation whereby there is an over-supply of houses and houses in locations where nobody wants to live, and ghost estates. This is a consequence of a lack of planning and of not using the figures gathered in the census to provide for adequate planning. We will all pay a very high price and in particular, my generation, my children and my grandchildren will pay. It is important to make appropriate use of the census information. If we do not plan where people live, we cannot plan for how they will get to work and leisure activities. We lack the ability to plan and to link the appropriate information such as the census information to the planning of services. We need to use these figures in a timely manner.

I disagree with the views of Deputy Ó Snodaigh with regard to the 1926 census. I believe he would probably agree that this census is different because we do not have the benefit of a census in 1921 as a consequence of the War of Independence. There is a significant gap between the census of 1911 and that of 1926. The bulk of the census returns from the 19th century were destroyed because of a lack of paper during the Great War and also because of the burning of the Public Records Office in the early days of the Civil War. The 1926 census returns should be released although I would find favour with Deputy Ó Snodaigh's point about the 1936 census because this was held in more normal circumstances whereas the 1926 census was out of kilter because of the historical time and the absence of a census in 1921.

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