Statistics Act 1993
The Statistics Act, 1993 (links to The Office of the Attorney General website) provides a modern legislative basis for the compilation and dissemination of official statistics. The Act came into operation on 1 November 1994. It incorporated, inter alia, the following provisions:
- the establishment on a statutory basis of the CSO as an independent Office under the aegis of the Taoiseach;
- the functions of the CSO, including in addition to its basic mandate the obligation to co-ordinate official statistics compiled by public authorities, the right to assess the statistical potential of the records maintained by public authorities and to ensure that this potential is realised in so far as resources permit;
- the appointment on a formal basis of the Director-General of the CSO who, in addition to being responsible for the management of the Office, shall also be independent on statistical matters (i.e. sole responsibility for the statistical methodologies and professional standards to be followed, the content of statistical releases and publications, and the timing and methods of dissemination of the statistics compiled);
- the establishment of a National Statistics Board (links to the National Statistics Board website) to guide, with the agreement of the Taoiseach, the strategic direction of the CSO;
- the right of access, subject to some limitations and conditions, of the CSO to administrative records held by public authorities for statistical purposes; and
- the obligation on the CSO to treat all individual information relating to persons or concerns as strictly confidential and to use such information solely for statistical purposes.
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