CSO calls for more public help gathering data as coronavirus takes toll

In pre-virus times, the CSO’s data-gathering consisted almost exclusively of face-to-face interviews on doorsteps, with 30,000 people generally interviewed by 100 dedicated staff every three months, a rate of nearly five daily per worker.

The Central Statistics Office has appealed for people to engage with it in greater numbers due to Covid-19 restrictions having taken a toll on its methods of data compilation.

The CSO, which monitors trends in Irish life from the labour market to household spending to crime, said its methods of gathering data have “changed completely” since living restrictions were first instigated by the Government on March 12.