The VDR Service provides a secure environment where CPS organisations can apply to the CSO to access pseudonymized data for statistical purposes. This service is being provided exclusively for CPS organisations, whilst working in collaboration with the CSO, to conduct analysis that supports evidence-based decision making, necessary for public policy evaluation and formulation.

The VDR Service is being provided exclusively for CPS organisations including other Public Sector organisations under their aegis.

The VDR Service is not available for individuals conducting academic research or entities in the private sector. For such services you may apply for access to the CSO Research Microdata Files (RMFs). Information can be found on the link hereunder relating to the CSO RMF Policy, registration, available datasets, the application process etc.

Data for Researchers

The benefits of the VDR Service include:

• It supports public policy development, decision-making as well as efficient and effective policy measurement and implementation.
• It provides efficient access to required data in a secure environment with protected access.
• It prevents organisations having store, secure and protect datasets and the costs of such requirements.
• CPS organisations can avail of the CSO’s experience in delivering these types of projects and avail of the CSO’s significant repertoire of data to inform their VDR projects.

Confidentiality

Only de-identified or pseudonymised data relating to individuals will be made available to a VDR project analysis team, and no identifiable data will be made available to any stakeholders or other persons by the project team under conditions of Section 34 of the Statistics Act, 1993. VDR project team researchers are obliged by law to respect the statistical confidentiality of information contained in the microdata under Section 33 of the Act.

Pseudonymisation

The CSO will only provide high quality pseudonymised data for the VDR Service.

As part of the CSO’s internal controls and protection, data is pseudonymised before it is made available for statistical analysis in a VDR project. The pseudonymisation process includes the removal of identifying information such as name and address details, Protected Identifier Keys (PIKs) are used in place of identification numbers. This process protects the original identifier numbers while preserving link capabilities across datasets.

Sample Size

All VDR projects are based on a sample of the linked pseudonymized data. Sample size will be assessed and determined by the CSO to ensure data privacy needs are maintained and the requirements of the analysis for the project researchers are met. The CSO shall maintain absolute discretion in this regard and the sample size for each VDR project shall be determined on a case-by-case basis. 

Research Outputs

Only outputs produced by the participating organisation’s research team (which first must be approved by the CSO) may be removed from the VDR. No other data may be removed from the VDR.

VDR projects can take a number of months to complete depending on the volume and nature of the data required to conduct the analysis. The figure hereunder outlines the key project stages required to be undertaken to complete a VDR project. 

A CPS organisation seeking to avail of the VDR Service must first send an Expression of Interest via email to the CSO (see link to email below). The following information is required to complete an Expression of Interest:

The following information is required to complete an Expression of Interest form:

• Name of CPS organisation seeking to avail of the service.
• Individual point of contact work email address (not a group email address).
• Details of the policy question or policy area that the VDR project is intended to evaluate or develop.
• Details of your proposed research team members and other project team members.
• Details of what datasets (data of interest) you need to conduct the research.
• Proposed timeframes to conduct the research.

Register your interest here

Upon receipt of a completed Expression of Interest a member of the CSO’s VDR Team will contact the applicant organisations individual point of contact within five working days. At this juncture a representative from the CSO’s VDR Team will discuss the proposed project with the applicant’s point of contact in more detail to determine if the project is viable from a data perspective.

Where a project is deemed viable following the review of an Expression of Interest the applicant organisation shall be forwarded a formal VDR Application Form to complete. Additionally, the CSO shall appoint a member of the CSO’s VDR Team as a Project Coordinator to assist applicants in completing the VDR Application Form and guiding them through subsequent stages of the process.

All completed VDR Application Forms shall be reviewed by an Advisory Group. The Advisory Group shall review all VDR Application Forms to assess that the proposed research is ethically sound and propose a public interest ranking for all feasible projects to assist the Director General of the CSO in the project approval process.

The Advisory Group consists of representatives CSO senior management along with key stakeholders from across the system and research community.

Framework Agreement

The legal basis for which the CSO may work in collaboration with CPS organisation to deliver the VDR Service is contained in Section 11(1) of the Statistics Act, 1993. VDR projects will be carried out in line with all relevant data protection regulations as well as all CSO data protocols and guidelines. Participating organisations will be required to sign a Section 11 Framework Agreement detailing these regulations, protocols and guidelines under which the VDR Service will be delivered. This agreement is required to be signed by the participating organisations most senior official e.g., Secretary General where a Government Department is seeking to avail of the service, and countersigned by the Director General of the CSO.

The Section 11 Framework Agreement stipulates:

• The VDR project will be subject to the strict legal provisions on the protection of information contained in Part V of the Statistics Act, 1993.
• No identifiable data relating to individuals will be made available to the participating organisations project analysis team, and no identifiable data will be made available to any stakeholders or other persons by the CSO under conditions of Section 34 of the Statistics Act, 1993.
• The participating organisations researcher(s) is obliged by law to respect the statistical confidentiality of information contained in the microdata under Section 33 of the Act.

The participating organisations research team will be appointed as Officers of Statistics as per Section 20(b) of the Statistics Act, 1993. This is required so they may conduct analysis for a VDR project. To be appointed as an Officer of Statistics, research team members will be required to sign a declaration of secrecy as specified in Section 21 of the Statistics Act. Similarly, all CSO staff involved a VDR project will be Officers of Statistics as per Section 20(a) of the Statistics Act.

Only these individuals (excluding ‘Parties of Interest’, see below) will have access to the agreed analysis tier microdata which, by definition, will already be pseudonymised. All researchers must be physically located in the Republic of Ireland when accessing the datasets in the VDR. Any discussions of the data by the research team (e.g., discussions of tables or analysis which could potentially disclose details of individual records) will be restricted to other Officers of Statistics appointed to the same statistical research project.

CPS organisations will be required to identify their research team members and confirm their availability to conduct the research, during timeframes agreed with the CSO, before a VDR project may commence.

Where a third-party organisation’s pseudonymised data is included in a VDR project, they will be invited by the CSO to nominate their own researchers to access to the VDR. These researchers will also be appointed as Officers of Statistics as per Section 20(b) of the Statistics Act, 1993. Additionally, the third-party organisation’s most senior official will be a cosignatory to the Section 11 Framework Agreement as outlined above.

The CSO’s Data Engineering team will support the preparation of data for the VDRs. The Data Engineering team will also continue to build data spines to facilitate efficient linkage and integration of datasets critical to the VDR service. The nature and volume of datasets required for individual VDR projects will determine the timeframes necessary to complete data engineering.

Once a VDR is available, it shall be accessible for twelve months, for research teams to conduct the analysis. The approved CPS organisations research team members (excluding Parties of Interest, see above) appointed as Officers of Statistics shall be given access to the VDR. Only these individuals will have access to the agreed analysis tier microdata in the VDR which, by definition, will already be pseudonymised. All researchers must be physically located in the Republic of Ireland when accessing the datasets in the VDR. Any discussions of the data by the research team (e.g. discussions of tables or analysis which could potentially disclose details of individual records) will be restricted to other Officers of Statistics appointed to the same statistical research project.

The VDR is provided in a secure environment hosted on AWS using Research and Engineering Studio which is a cloud-based platform. Researchers will be provided with a username and password to log into the VDR. Multi factor authentication is also used for enhanced security.  

VDR’s are created on a ‘per project’ basis and come preloaded with the project specific data and analysis tools. The standard analysis tools available in a VDR are R, Python, Office Libre and STATA. Where necessary, other tools such as  SPSS and Switch can be provided. 

Collaboration for researchers working on the same project is also facilitated within a VDR. The CSO’s Data Service Coordinators shall continue to provide ongoing assistance and support to the appointed Officers of Statistics throughout the analysis.

CPS organisations that complete VDR projects may publish reports from their research. Any statistical data/analysis included in such reports must comply with the requirements of the Statistics Act, 1993. Any commentary of a policy focused nature shall be entirely a matter for the participating CPS organisation and can in no way be attributed to or associated with the CSO. An explicit reference to this effect must be clearly and unambiguously made in any report/output form a VDR project. VDR project outputs shall be reports/aggregate tables released through the CSO research data output process. Any reports produced by the participating CPS organisation resulting from the use of the data accessed in a VDR project shall be shared with the CSO, including any Parties of Interest, prior to publication.