Events

Date: 16/09/2016

On 14 September Padraig Dalton, Director General of the Central Statistics Office addressed 26 ACESA members on the changing nature of Ireland and the value of statistics in identifying these changes.

It was evident from the presentation that there are significant possibilities for the use of data to provide greater benefits within the public service and to our stakeholders. In tandem with this there is more work to be done in joining up the data infrastructure and processes. There is an ongoing need for strong governance around data usage; and for clear and comprehensive notification to data subjects on the use to which their data may be put.

The role of the CSO is changing, with a move to evidence based policy making and there are challenges in this. The CSO is open to engagement and members were interested in the scope to get support from CSO for the development of good data in their own organisations.

During the Q&A session Padraic Dalton indicated that there is a “conversation” which needs to be held at national level about these issues. Perhaps there is a role for ACESA in this regard. The move to evidence based policy making is a major cultural change for the Irish Civil Service and it could be useful to consider promoting the approach in some way

It was noted from the subsequent evaluation report that 80% of those attending found the meeting excellent or very good. The temperature of the meeting was very positive, and this was another useful network meeting.

Padraig Dalton’s slides are available in the Members Area of the website.