In June 2017, a Memorandum of Understanding (PDF 3,873KB) was agreed. The Memorandum was signed by Mr. Pádraig Dalton, Director-General of the CSO and Mr. Aidan O’Driscoll, Secretary-General of DAFM.

The Memorandum formally enhances data cooperation between the CSO and DAFM. In addition to covering data transfer matters, it establishes Liaison Groups for forest and agriculture statistics as formal, high-level mechanisms for consultation and communication between the two Offices. The Memorandum acknowledges that data cooperation will contribute towards fulfilling statistical requirements of European legislation; reducing the administrative burden and meeting national needs for statistics on agriculture.

The Memorandum reaffirms the CSO's undertaking that all data received from DAFM are treated as strictly confidential and are used for statistical purposes only, in accordance with the Statistics Act, 1993, and in conformity with the Data Protection Act.