| Location: | CSO Teams |
|---|---|
| Date: | Thursday, 18th July 2024 |
| Present: | Kevin Timoney (UL / Davy), Lea Hauser (ESRI), Killian Carroll (IFAC), Oisín Tarrant (DFIN), Thomas Conefrey (CBI), Michael Flanagan (DFIN), Shawn Britton (NTMA), Tom McDonnell (NERI), Chris Smart (NERI), Simon Barry (Indp.), Seamus Coffey (UCC), Annette Hughes (EY), Conor O’Toole (ESR) |
| CSO: Kieran Culhane, Clare Sullivan, John Sheridan, Brian King, Justin Flannery, Conor Prescott, Marie O’Neill |
1. The format of the meeting was a questions and answers session regarding the Annual National Accounts and International Accounts and the benchmark revisions. Kieran Culhane opened the meeting with a summary of the annual release regarding the annual national accounts benchmark and routine revisions highlighting that the main changes came from new data sources and methodology which have been applied back through the revised years.
2. On the income method, for example, revisions have been made to data back to 2011 for compensation of employees. There is a break at 2011 in the series due to the use of P35 (Pay As You Earn) data which is not available prior to 2011. PMOD (PAYE Modernisation) is now used as the primary source since 2019. The recent benchmark revisions have included additional income from self-employed wage-earners which were not previously captured.
3. Data from the 2022 Census of Population is used to calculate personal consumption, for new population numbers and rent and indirectly by rebasing survey data such as the Labour Force Survey (LFS).
4. The way merchanting of services is reported has changed due to requirements from Eurostat. Previously values provided were net values, now data must be entered as positive / negative imports / exports as appropriate resulting in big increases on either side which net out when combined. The exports data has also increased due to the identification of additional new companies which are now included in the grossing estimation procedure.
5. The increase in personal consumption is driven mainly by revisions in foreign travel and insurance.
6. Eurostat require transmission of data using COICOP (Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose) 2018 by end September which will result in changes to some existing classifications and new classifications added. Which classifications to be used going forward has yet to be decided.