Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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68. To ask the Taoiseach the steps being taken to address concerns concerning the methodology used to formulate revised 2015 growth figures issued by the Central Statistics Office; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26601/16]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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National accounts statistics for Ireland are compiled in accordance with the 2010 European System of Accounts (ESA 2010) as required under EU legislation. The ESA 2010 standards are based on the UN's 2008 edition of the System of National Accounts (SNA 2008).

The revisions to the national accounts and balance of payments statistics published on July 12^th2016 were driven largely by the relocation of large balance sheets to Ireland, with consequential increases in the economic activity attributable to Ireland. The information on the relocations and the related activity was supplied to the CSO's Large Cases Unit (LCU) as part of the broad range of data collected by that unit. The LCU works closely with the largest multi-national groups to ensure that the activities of the Irish resident parts of these complex multi-national structures are correctly identified, measured and reflected in the national accounts statistics and in other CSO outputs.

Eurostat visited the CSO on August 30^thas part of the normal GNI verification processes for national accounts statistics. The meeting was very productive and the results for 2015 were verified by Eurostat.

The macro-economic statistics published by the CSO in accordance with the international standards provide a valuable reflection of the complexity of the highly globalised Irish economy relative to other economies and the results highlight the level of concentration of multi-national activity in Ireland. Because of the open, highly globalised nature of the Irish economy, the measurement challenges caused by globalisation are particularly acute in Ireland's case and the CSO appreciates the difficulties faced by users of our statistics in understanding domestic economic activity.

The CSO is committed to meeting user needs and is convening an expert group to develop recommendations on how best to meet the statistical needs of users, and in particular, to provide guidance on the development of indicators and analyses that better provide insight to Irish domestic economy activity. The Group will meet during the period September to November 2016 and will report to the Director General of the CSO. The report of the group will be published and will be available on the CSO website, along with the CSO’s response to the report.