Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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136. To ask the Minister for Finance if he is satisfied with the level of data that is collected on the issues which come under his Department's remit; the steps he will take to work with the administration in Northern Ireland to collect data under his aegis on a North-South basis; the budgets he will put in place to undertake this work (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14441/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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For my Department, this relates to statistics on the economy which, for the most part, are the responsibility of the CSO.  I understand that the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) work closely together on topics of common interest. This includes regular meetings and exchange of best practice on current methods for collection and processing of Census of Population, Business and Tourism statistics.

Joint publications by CSO and NISRA include "Census 2011: Ireland and Northern Ireland", "Visitors to Ireland and Northern Ireland 2014: A statistical profile of tourism", and the thematic report "Ireland North and South - A Statistical Profile".  The All-Island Tourism Statistics Liaison Group, which meets twice per year, is jointly chaired by CSO and NISRA and includes membership from the relevant agencies North and South. Both the CSO and NISRA work within standards and definitions set by EU statistical legislation and this helps to assure comparability of statistics in joint thematic publications and comparability between the regular statistics published by the two organisations.  

It is important to note that the CSO is an independent office under the aegis of the Department of Taoiseach which accordingly is responsible for all budgetary matters related to the CSO.