Caít Keane (Fine Gael)

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit chuig an Teach. To make informed decisions, one must have ongoing information on public policy and the most important tool in gathering such information is statistics. To have a complete understanding of the issues, be they social, economic, environmental or otherwise, it is essential to have accurate information so that measures introduced accurately match the people's needs. It is the people that statistics must serve and not anything else. They fulfil a vital role in shaping our economic, social and educational policies and otherwise. The undertaking of Census 2011 by the CSO displays our strong commitment to producing factual information relevant to our country. I cannot speak about statistics without mentioning our great statistician, Dr. Garret FitzGerald, who died in the past year. He stated that he frightened his wife from flying because he used to bring the Aer Lingus statistics to bed with him as reading material. Members are aware of how he served this country in the production of statistics. Recognition of our immigrant population was strengthened this year by the availability of the census form in 22 most-spoken languages in the State. This ensured inclusiveness and that no one was excluded in gathering those statistics.

Many Members spoke of the necessity for accuracy in statistics. In this context, I will go back to the 1800s and a quote attributed to Mr. Benjamin Disraeli, albeit one not found in his literature thereafter, namely, "lies, damn lies and statistics". In the present day, it is not as easy to assert that lies, damn lies and statistics may be massaged in the manner that was possible long ago. At that time, people dealt in paper management and did not have linked-up thinking and while more such linked-up thinking is required, the advent of information technology provides greater access to it. Although I agree with Senator Ó Domhnaill that more such thinking is required, it is not as easy to massage the figures as it was long ago. On foot of the advent of computerisation, it no longer is as easy to request X result from a statistic.

More than ever, one must turn to statistics and gathering of information to direct Ireland out of its current economic crisis. Statistics are not new in Ireland and it has been mooted that the prosperity experienced by some in the 1990s was generated from the creative and innovative responses arising from research carried out by the ESRI. That institution should be mentioned today because of the volume of research it conducts in Ireland. I acknowledge that some speakers have suggested that had better use been made of that research, we might not be in the fix in which we now find ourselves but that said, statistics are important. Increasingly, we are faced with complex questions to answer and decisions to make and we need to know exactly what is going on in the economy and in society.

The current situation is somewhat more challenging in that our loss of sovereignty means we depend a great deal on the European Union. European statistics are a major factor for Ireland and our statistics play a big part in the European context, especially whether the economy is growing.

At a conference in Brussels last March, entitled Statistics for Policymaking: Europe 2020, the importance of official statistics was made clear by many of the speakers. It was stated that Europe's overall response to the crisis will require sound, high quality data and statistical analysis on which sound decisions can be made.

Statistics are crucial when setting targets and using indicators for monitoring and evaluation purposes. In particular, statistics are essential in measuring trends in competitiveness and following economic developments, particularly imbalances. It is most important that statistics are up to date. I will not go into any more detail on that because many Senators have spoken about the importance of up-to-date statistics.

A scoreboard of economic indicators, which now could be produced weekly, would inform us about the progress we are making as well as signalling areas that need more attention. If we had had that in 2009 and 2010, there would have been red flags flying, signalling areas that needed attention.

Many Senators spoke about the dearth of statistics between North and South. I bring to the attention of the House that valuable information is being provided under the All-Island Research Observatory, AIRS, and the National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis, NIRSA, under the tutorship of NUI Maynooth. This involves linked statistics with the Ordnance Survey Northern Ireland, OSNI, the All-Island Research Observatory, AIRO, NIRSA and the CSO. We have mentioned the importance of the CSO, but work is also being done in all those five bodies. They are starting to link data using co-ordinates on maps and GSO filing. I thank the Minister of State for the work he has done with those organisations. We are moving forward but more needs to be done. With computerisation, we will be able to do much more in that regard.

Turning the focus away from the national statistics, I want to bring statistics back to the county level. I am indebted to the manager of South Dublin County Council, the local authority of which I am a former member, who, when he came to the authority, set up the county statistics office, which is doing a valuable job. As the Minister of State will be aware, it is expensive to keep a county statistics office but with the advent of technology, it is possible to merge it into other departments and that is being done. That local authority and two or three others have been chosen to be part of a pilot project in conjunction with NISRA to keep valuable statistics on a county-wide basis. With the breakdown of the constituencies and the work that is being done, it is hoped it will be possible in the next couple of months to bring the level to that of 50 or more households where one will get accurate information on those, perhaps on medical cards and social order.

I will finish by addressing the approach to IT in the Department and gathering statistics. I read an article recently by Mr. David McWilliams in which he stated that many indigenous companies were debarred from tendering for IT or business with the Government owing to legislation. There are many small indigenous IT companies that could help the Government if the tenders were broken down into small elements, which is what we need the statistics on. If tenders were broken down into smaller components, we would not have to wait forever or it would not cost what the Garda system or medical systems cost to put into action.

There can be no denying that statistics are our signpost for recovery. It is only when one understands a problem fully that one can solve it effectively.