Maria Corrigan (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive response. He is the Minister who has been dealing with this issue and I thank him for coming to the Chamber to respond to this matter. I appreciate that. I thank him for his detailed response, especially the outline of the process that has been gone through.

I have some reservations about the wording the Minister of State has decided upon. It does not relate so much to this matter but, from my professional background, it occurs to me that to ask people to put a tick against either intellectual disability or a difficulty with learning, remembering or concentrating - the latter category will apply to people with dyslexic-type disability, people with acquired brain injury, attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity - will result in some refinement but it will collect all for such information. It may cause more confusion for the people completing the form than was intended.

If I understand the Minister of State correctly, he is saying that the form for the 2011 census is finalised and that it is not possible to proceed any further with changes in that respect. Is that correct? I take on board the comments he made off script that this possibly is not the most appropriate tool to try to capture this information, but because we have that deficit perhaps the appropriate course of action would be to pass this on to the Minister with responsibility for the disability sector and examine other more appropriate tools, as I appreciate what the Minister of State has said about the 2011 census. I thank the him again for his time.