State Papers: CSO’s top executive objected to ‘totally unsuitable’ Cork relocation plans

In December 1991, the NSB urged the then taoiseach, Charles Haughey, to rescind the government’s decision to move the CSO to Cork

CSO director, Donal Murphy claimed a building in Mahon would be subject to high-security risks at night and weekends. Picture: Larry Cummins.

Plans to move the headquarters of the CSO from Dublin to Cork in the early 1990s were strongly criticised by the CSO’s own top executive, who branded its proposed relocation to the Cork suburb of Mahon as “totally unsuitable”.

Newly released files from the National Archives show the National Statistics Board (NSB), the CSO’s advisory body, expressed concern the decentralisation plans could impact on “the quality and timeliness of official statistics and the general efficiency of the office”.