Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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112. To ask the Taoiseach if consideration has been given to the funding of a joint project between the CSO and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency to have a more standardised approach (details supplied). [22929/21]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Central Statistics Office (CSO) and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) regularly cooperate on matters of shared interest regarding the compilation of official statistics, including population, social, economic, trade and business sector statistics.

This cooperation includes formal arrangements, such as the Memorandum of Understanding in place between the CSO and NISRA with regards the 2021 Census of Population to support collaboration and improve the comparability and quality of each agencies outputs.

The forthcoming new strategy of the National Statistics Board, which guides the broad strategic direction of the CSO, furthermore recommends the continued collaboration between the CSO and NISRA to support a shared-island approach to official statistics where appropriate.

As part of the Government’s Shared Island initiative, we are committed to deepening all aspects of North/South cooperation.

While the CSO is an independent agency, its continued cooperation with NISRA on official statistics is welcome, and my Department will continue to engage with the CSO on an ongoing basis.