89 Deputy Seán Barrett asked the Taoiseach if he will include a question on the next national Census form asking if any person or persons in each household has autism, as such information is important to establish the levels of autism here, and is vital to assist in policy development in this area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16025/08]

The Central Statistics Office will be commencing the consultation phase of Census 2011 in August 2008. It will place notices in the national press and on the CSO website inviting submissions from the public and interested parties on the suggested content of the 2011 census questionnaire. The CSO will directly contact the national organisation representing autism during this consultative phase.

The CSO, as in previous censuses, intends to set up a broadly based consultative group to assist it in assessing the merits of the various submissions which it may receive. This group will be representative of Government departments, local and public authorities and major users of census data. This will be followed by a pilot test in April 2009 to assess, among other things, the feasibility of any new questions introduced, bearing in mind the pressure for space on the census form.

The final decision regarding the questionnaire content for Census 2011 will be based on a recommendation by the Director General of the CSO to Government, taking full account of the results of the pilot test. This is expected to be in Autumn 2009.