Being transparent, telling people clearly what we do and how we do it, promotes trust in our statistics. It is one of the things that distinguishes official statistics compiled by the CSO from other data providers.
There are many ways in which the CSO demonstrates our commitment to being transparent. For example, free access to information is a key element in promoting transparency. We provide all users with equal access to statistical releases at the same time. When we publish new statistical releases, they are freely available to everyone from 11am on our website on the day of release. Any pre-release access is limited, controlled, and publicised.
We are also transparent about how we work. We produce statistics in accordance with internationally agreed methods, standards, and professional ethics, and we are reviewed regularly by a team of international experts to ensure we meet the highest standards. We publish the results of these reviews so our users can be assured of our processes and procedures. Our sources and methodologies are also published in each statistical release. All of these steps mean that users can be confident in the credibility and quality of official statistics.
Providing independent insight for all.
CSO data is different because we are uniquely placed from a legislative perspective to gather data together from multiple sources and link data where appropriate to provide insights for all. Other compilers do not have the legal basis to compile statistical information in this way. We publish all of our statistical products and ensure equality of access to all user groups at the same time. We provide total transparency about our data collection methods, our questionnaires, how we process your data, what sources we use, and when we will publish the data.
As the country’s National Statistics Institute (NSI), we are authorised and required by law to gather, analyse, and publish data on Irish society. As an NSI, when we publish statistics, they are described as official statistics, which means they must meet the highest international standards and are verifiable facts you can trust. Our procedures are regularly reviewed by teams of international experts. User feedback also informs the work of the CSO. The CSO works with liaison groups, the National Statistics Board, focus groups, and our Peer Review process includes feedback from a range of external users.
When we issue a survey, households, and sometimes named individuals, are selected at random to create a nationally representative picture of life in Ireland. When it comes to our statistical releases where we publish the results of our surveys, we will clearly state important details such as the number of people who completed the survey, our methodologies, and our data sources.
Under the Statistics Act, 1993, the CSO can also access existing data sources such as administrative records collected by Government bodies and agencies to provide insights on our society, economy, or environment.
Perhaps most importantly, your confidentiality is enshrined in law, and we provide equal access to our published data which is freely available to everyone on our website
The CSO is transparent about our role, what we do, how we do it, and why we do it. We clearly outline our responsibilities under the Statistics Act and the steps we take to protect the confidentiality of the data we gather.
We recognise that free access to independent information is a key element in promoting transparency. For example, the CSO is committed to the European Statistics (ESS) Code of Practice which requires that all users have equal access to statistical releases at the same time.
As the National Statistics Institute (NSI) for Ireland, we adhere to the 10 Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics. This means we, along with other member states, must produce statistics in accordance with internationally agreed methods, standards, and ethics. The results of these Peer Reviews are published to give users greater assurances around our processes and procedures. This helps build trust and credibility around the production of official statistics.
The CSO is committed to openness and transparency. We publish details about the data we produce, the sources and methods used by the CSO, detailed metadata, and how and when we use other data sources such as those records collected by Civil and Public Service bodies, referred to as administrative data.
The Statistics Act makes provisions for transparent and accountable decisions on statistical matters (Section 13). The CSO is fully committed to the transparency, integrity, and independence of official statistics. Part of this means questioning the necessity and proportionality of every survey we conduct or source we use, publishing transparency notices, and ensuring no individual, household, or enterprise is ever identifiable from the data we publish.
Thank you for your participation. The planned publication schedule for all releases is available on the CSO Release Calendar.
All CSO statistical releases are published on our website at 11am on the day of release. There may be a time lag between completing our survey and seeing the final results given the time and care it takes to produce our statistical releases. One of our core principles is providing all users with free, equal access to statistical releases at the same time.
The CSO constantly aims to provide users with the most up to date information available. Revisions occur regularly as newer benchmarking data becomes available or as the result of an error. When we make those changes or an error occurs in a published output, we will address it promptly and place a Revision Notice on the affected release. Users are informed of any updates to any statistical data at the point of change and a full list of the changes is provided. Our Revisions Policy has more information.
If the error occurs in a piece of data that has been gathered by the CSO, we will correct the error where possible.
However, if the error, such as those relating to the spelling of a name or address, is from a source outside of the CSO, we cannot correct the mistake. Under the Statistics Act, the CSO has the right to access this information to complement or replace survey data to provide unique insights about Irish society. The Statistics Act also sets out strict controls around the CSO and confidentiality. This ensures the strict confidentiality of all data gathered by the CSO is maintained at all times. Data only comes into the CSO, but is never shared back with any Government department or agency – even if that means pointing out an error. The error can only be corrected at the source of that data.
Our use of professional ethics as part of our processes and decision-making