Governance in the CSO
Good governance is central to the effective operation of the Central Statistics Office. It ensures that the Office effectively discharges the mandate of the CSO, as set out in the Statistics Act, 1993:
"The collection, compilation, extraction and dissemination for statistical purposes of information relating to economic, social and general activities and conditions in the State".
(Section 3, Statistics Act 1993)
Good governance is about delivering priorities, achieving objectives, behaving with integrity and acting in the public interest. Governance is concerned with developing and implementing appropriate structures and processes for directing and managing CSO; so that stakeholders can be assured that the organisation is operating effectively and efficiently.
CSO Independence
The Statistics Act, 1993 provides a comprehensive mandate for compiling official statistics, with strong safeguards for the independence of official statistics and the protection of confidential data. The Director General has sole responsibility in relation to professional statistical matters (i.e. statistical methodologies, professional standards, the contents of statistical releases and publications, and the timing and methods of publishing statistics).
“The Director General shall have the sole responsibility for and be independent in the exercise of the functions of deciding—
a) the statistical methodology and professional statistical standards used by the Office;
b) the content of statistical releases and publications issued by the Office; and
c) the timing and methods of dissemination of statistics compiled by the Office”
(Section 13 , Statistics Act 1993)
The Director General’s independence is defined under section 12 of the Statistics Act 1993.
“The Director General shall be a corporation sole by the name of the Director General of the Central Statistics Office with perpetual succession and a seal and may sue or be sued by that name.” (Section 13, Statistics Act 1993)
The Act protects the confidentiality of the information provided to the CSO, which may only be used for statistical purposes, and confidential data may not be disseminated. The CSO rigorously protects the confidentiality of individual and company data.
The independent position of the CSO, as defined in the Statistics Act, 1993, reflects international best practice for the organisation of official statistics. There is a significant international dimension to the CSO's work through the provision of statistics that may be compared directly with corresponding data for other countries. This is particularly the case in respect of the CSO’s participation in the European Statistical System (ESS). Meeting EU requirements has been the single most important factor shaping the development of the CSO's work since the 1970s. Since accession to the European Community in 1973 the CSO's work programme has been almost been completely driven by the mandatory requirements of EU Directives and Regulations.
The basic principles and rules for how the European Statistical System should function were originally laid down in Regulation 223/2009, establishing a legal framework for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics.
The latest development in relation to European Statistics was the publication in 2015 of (EU) Regulation 2015/759 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2015, amending Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics.
The Regulation provides at Article 2-1(a):
1. The development, production and dissemination of European statistics shall be governed by the following statistical principles:
‘(a) “professional independence”, meaning that statistics must be developed, produced and disseminated in an independent manner, particularly as regards the selection of techniques, definitions, methodologies and sources to be used, and the timing and content of all forms of dissemination, and that the performance of those tasks is free from any pressures from political or interest groups or from Union or
national authorities;’. (EU Regulation 2015/759)
The CSO subscribes fully to the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics and the European Statistics Code of Practice.
Governance Principles
The “International Framework: Good Governance in the Public Sector” suggests a number of high level governance principles which should underpin the governance arrangements in civil service organisations:
CSO Governance Framework
The purpose of this Governance Framework is to provide a clear and comprehensive summary of the principal aspects of corporate governance within the CSO. Corporate governance is vitally important for the CSO in effectively discharging its statutory obligations. It ensures that a framework of structures, policies and processes are in place to deliver on these obligations and it also allows for an objective assessment of management and corporate performance. The CSO Governance Framework is in line with the principles outlined above and with the Corporate Governance Standard for the Civil Service.
All employees have an important role to play in committing to the good governance of the CSO through the application of this Standard in the performance of their duties.
The CSO Governance Framework focuses on key areas of governance and was first published in 2018. We have continued to develop our framework since then. It contains links to sources of more detailed governance documents; queries or requests for additional information can be made by contacting governance@cso.ie.