All requests for access to RMFs must be made through the Researcher Online System for Applications (ROSA). Only researchers who are employed by, or formally related to, a registered research organisation will be eligible to apply for access to RMFs. Research organisation registration establishes two roles, being:
Researchers who have not previously been appointed as Officers of Statistics are required to contact their organisation’s RMF Contact who will set them up on ROSA. The researcher will then need to complete their own registration and training on ROSA. The maximum period of appointment as an Officer of Statistics is one year. Researchers can apply to renew their project from two months prior to its expiry.
Research Organisation Registration
Every researcher wishing to access CSO research microdata files must be employed by, or formally related to, a registered Research Organisation. A "Research Organisation" in this context refers to organisations whose primary focus is on research and also to organisations who have research units where the organisation's principal activity is not research.
Please refer to the Register of Research Organisations. If yours is not listed and you wish to apply for RMF access, please send an email from your organisation email address to rcu@cso.ie providing us with the full name, position, directly-identifiable email address and contact telephone number of the “Senior Representative” who has the authority to make commitments on behalf of your organisation, e.g. secretary general, managing director, president, university chancellor or similar.
The CSO will then send the Senior Representative an email inviting them to complete a Research Organisation Registration application form online.
When the CSO accesses an application, the following shall be taken into consideration:
(1) the purpose of the organisation;
(2) the established record of the organisation as a producer of research; and
(3) the safeguards in place to ensure security of the data.
It should be noted that Research Organisation registration does not bestow any specific status on the registered organisation or imply any preferential access to RMFs. It simply implies that the organisation level details are held on file within the CSO and that access requests for RMFs themselves will be streamlined, i.e. the organisational level detail will not have to be resubmitted with each RMF access request.
In order for RMF access to be granted, approval must be granted by a Statistician, a Senior Statistician, an Assistant Director General and by the Director General of the CSO. Since the introduction of ROSA the duration of the approval process has been reduced significantly.
On approval of an RMF Application, ROSA will generate and issue the RMF Standard Agreement and Officer of Statistics certificate(s) to the applicant(s). The applicant(s) must accept both the terms and conditions of the RMF Standard Agreement and electronically sign the Officer of Statistics certificate.
ROSA will notify successful applicants once all Officer of Statistics certificates and the RMF Standard Agreement have been electronically signed by the researcher(s). Access may be granted on-site or off-site at the discretion of the CSO.
Access to RMFs will only be given when:
Each researcher specified in the Agreement has accepted the Terms and Conditions of the RMF Standard Agreement.
Each researcher has accepted the Declaration of Secrecy under Section 21 of the Statistics Act, 1993.
Each researcher has completed the online training in ROSA which ensures awareness of the terms and conditions of the RMF Standard Agreement.
Each researcher has been appointed an Officer of Statistics by the Director General of the Central Statistics Office under Section 20(c) of the Statistics Act, 1993.
The lead researcher on a project will be notified by ROSA two months before the project is due to expire at which time a renewal button will become available.