In January 2019, the Director-General of the Central Statistics Office (CSO), Mr Pádraig Dalton and the Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality, Mr Aidan O’Driscoll, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and the Department of Justice and Equality (PDF 1,965KB) on the undertaking of a comprehensive national survey on the prevalence of sexual violence in Ireland.
The Central Statistics Office’s (CSO) role is to support research and public policy by producing impartial and robust data reflecting Ireland’s economy, people and society. In December 2017, at the request of the Minister for Justice and Equality, the CSO took part in a scoping group whose role was to consider the availability of data in relation to sexual violence and make recommendations regarding future requirements. It became clear from the work of this group that there is a societal need for reliable data to assess the extent of the issue and to inform public policy with regard to prevention and response. The result was a consensus on the need for a comprehensive national survey on the prevalence of sexual violence in Ireland and the CSO has now been charged with undertaking this work.
The MoU therefore provides the framework within which this important study will take place and work is now beginning in the CSO to prepare for the survey.