Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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Question 82: To ask the Taoiseach if the Central Statistics Office were aware of the very serious allegations that were being made about a company (details supplied) involvement in interrogating detainees in Abu Ghraib before they were awarded the contract; if so, did they raise the matter with the company; if there was any correspondence in relation to the matter; and if they discussed the matter with the Government at the time. [7315/11]

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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Question 83: To ask the Taoiseach the supports and services a company (details supplied) is providing in relation to Census 2011; and whether it is software support or services or hardware support or services. [7316/11]

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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Question 84: To ask the Taoiseach the access a company (details supplied) will have to the software or hardware systems where the data is stored and or analysed. [7317/11]

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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Question 85: To ask the Taoiseach the checks or security procedures the Central Statistics Office has in place to ensure that the data collected is secure and that it cannot be abused by outside contractors. [7318/11]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 82 to 85, inclusive, together.

The census is a major undertaking for the CSO and contractors have been employed to assist with specialised parts of the work. For 2011 the contract for the design and print of the census forms, and the provision and onsite support of the hardware and software required for the scanning, capture and coding of the census forms was awarded to a UK company CACI (UK) Ltd. CACI (UK) Ltd. were first awarded a similar type contract for the 2002 and 2006 censuses and more recently won the contract for Census 2011. Of the proposals assessed by CSO, CACI (UK) Ltd provided best value for money for the Irish taxpayer. EU rules do not allow bidders to be excluded because they are foreign companies.

The printing of the census forms was sub-contracted by CACI (UK) Ltd. to a Dublin based printer.

The CSO is aware of abuse allegations against the American parent company of CACI (UK) Ltd, namely CACI International. CACI (UK) Ltd. states that the allegation against CACI International was not substantiated by any evidence or proof at the time it was made, and subsequent investigations by both CACI International and the US government could not confirm it. CACI International have stated publicly that they take this allegation extremely seriously, that they do not condone, tolerate or endorse any illegal behaviour by its employees in any circumstances or at any time and they have held in the past, and always will hold, themselves to the highest ethical standards.

As a public body the Central Statistics Office is clearly fundamentally committed to ethical and proper conduct in all matters and would never consider having any dealings with a company convicted of human rights abuse. EU procurement rules allows bidders to be excluded if they have been convicted of certain criminal or other offences but none of these exclusions apply to CACI (UK) Ltd. or indeed to its US parent.

Regarding the protection of census data, confidentiality is the cornerstone of all work conducted by the CSO. All information collected in the census is treated as strictly confidential by the CSO and will be used only for statistical purposes. This confidentiality is guaranteed by law. CACI (UK) Ltd's American parent company is not involved in any way in the preparation or delivery of systems for the Irish Census. All Census 2011 forms will be processed in CSO's census office located in Swords where all information is stored on a dedicated closed CSO network which is wholly owned by the CSO. At no time will any of the detailed census information be copied or otherwise removed from this network. All staff who are employed to work on the processing of the 2011 census data are signed-up as Officers of Statistics under the Statistics Act 1993 which legally prohibits them from divulging confidential statistical data of any sort. The penalty for breach of this provision of the Act is set at €25,000

The CSO is the only organisation that will have access to identifiable census information relating to individuals or households.

The CSO is justifiably proud of its unblemished record in protecting the confidentiality of data. It is one their top priorities to maintain this record.