The importance of Official Statistics
Official Statistics are an essential part in creating an informed society for the people of Ireland. This data is indispensable in evidence based policy decisions taken in Ireland every year around such themes as health, economic, social and environmental needs. Therefore the fundamental principles of independence, timeliness, accessibility, quality and confidentiality that lie at the heart of Official Statistics makes this statistical data more important than ever.
What are Official Statistics
Official Statistics are defined in the Statistics Act, 1993 as statistics compiled by the CSO or any other public authority whether under the Statistics Act, 1993 or otherwise.
For the purpose of ISSCoP, ‘Official Statistics’ will be agreed between the Director General of the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and the head of the relevant public authority where they are considered to be of sufficient public interest and satisfying the following criteria:
- produced by or on behalf of a public authority;
- continuous i.e. there should be a reasonable expectation that the published statistic will be updated with new data to provide comparability over time;
- where a statistic is produced as a “one-off” the Director General of the CSO, in consultation with the responsible public authority, may deem the statistic an Official Statistic if it is considered to be of public interest;
- in the public domain.