In March 2019, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) (PDF 362KB)  was agreed between the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI). It was signed by Mr. Pádraig Dalton, Director-General of the CSO, and Mr. Philip Lane, Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) and the Central Bank of lreland (CBI) along with the Department of Finance (D/Fin) have a joint responsibility reporting Government Finance Statistics (GFS) for Ireland for past, present and forecast years. The Commission, Eurostat (ESTAT) and the European Central Bank (ECB) are increasing their efforts to assure the quality of GFS. This includes assuring the robustness of systems and the upstream data. In this context, clarity with regard to the roles and responsibilities of players in the production of GFS is very important.  

The purpose of the memorandum of understanding is to clarify the roles and responsibilities of, as well as the areas of cooperation between, the CSO and the CBI with regard to the compilation and transmission of GFS. The agreement is entered into on the understanding that it is subordinate to the relevant legislation governing each body. The CBI and the CSO will have separate bi-lateral Memoranda of Understanding with the Department of Finance.

In July 2021, an additional Memorandum of Understanding between the Central Statistics Office and the Central Bank of Ireland in relation to the Central Credit Register (PDF 664KB) was agreed between the CSO and the CBI. It was signed by Mr. Pádraig Dalton, Director-General of the CSO, and Mr. Gabriel Makhlouf, Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland.

The purpose of this second MOU is to clarify the roles and responsibilities of, as well as the areas of cooperation between, CSO and the Central Bank with regard to the transmission to, and use of the Central Bank’s Central Credit Register data, for statistical purposes by the CSO. The agreement will contribute to enhanced statistical outputs by the CSO and to a reduction in the response burdens arising from CSO surveys.