Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 5: To ask the Taoiseach Taoiseach if he has exercised his powers under the Statistics Act, 1993, including his power under Section 25; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25346/10]

John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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The principal powers assigned to me under the Statistics Act relate to the nomination of the Director General of the CSO, for appointment by the President, section 12(1), and the appointment of the National Statistics Board, section 18, which have been exercised as required since enactment of the legislation, and the making of orders under section 25 of the Act in respect of mandatory surveys. I will not go through all the surveys unless Deputy Ó Caoláin wishes. A dozen or so are included. From the point of view of saving time they will be circulated for the Deputy and included in the Official Report.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I will not repeat what I said earlier. I apologise, through the Chair, for having failed to note that the grouping did not include Parliamentary Question No. 5. I thought it would have done. In any event, the critical focus is that there was a request made of the Taoiseach going back to last June and in the context of the statistics regarding child deaths in care under the stewardship of the Health Service Executive in order to secure full disclosure and accountability which we were all arguing for at the time. I understand section 25 does give this power to the Taoiseach of the day under the Statistics Act 1993. We already know the power was not exercised during the period including last June, but was consideration given to the particular proposition and if not, why not? Will the Minister of State clarify whether the power has been exercised in a number of instances that will be included in the full reply?

John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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I will begin with the last point. There is a range of statutory instruments under section 25. I will outline the first to give the Deputy a flavour and the rest are included in the longer answer. SI 909 of 2005, the Statistics (Business Registers) Order 2005, is a regulation which provides for the conduct of the CSO's annual survey of business demography. The primary purpose of the survey is provide estimates of the number of enterprises and the number of persons engaged. It also provides information on the enterprise life cycle and the total number of enterprises on the business register and the number of new enterprises and closures. The business register which is updated by this survey is a central part of the CSO's overall system of business statistics.

That is one statutory instrument and there are a good number of others. If the Deputy wishes me to read them all into the record, I will do so.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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There is no need.

John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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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.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Given the Minister for Health and Children is seated beside the Minister of State today, I note that we were at that time endeavouring to extract the full facts in regard to the statistics of child deaths in State care. As the Minister of State will recall, getting to the final figure proved to be a very vexatious process. In the context of establishing the statistics - the numbers, rather than any particular analysis of the facts that led to any and all of these tragic outcomes - this was the argument of the Children's Rights Alliance and a view with which I would have concurred. It is clear from the Minister of State's reply that no consideration was given to this means or method of acquiring the stated information, which is regrettable. The information subsequently did become available but I highlight that this is an area offering a means and method of address of problems such as this that might present in the future.

John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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To reiterate in regard to the legislation, section 25 of the Statistics Act 1993 does not relate because it is specifically in regard to statistical purposes. Clearly, the type of information that is required here would require some scrutiny of administrative systems and practices but, in any event, the figures have been progressed separately in a different manner.