Statistical Office:
Central Statistics Office
COVID-19 dedicated website:
https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-covid19/covid-19informationhub/
COVID-19 related project/initiative:
Measuring Mortality using Public Data Sources
The law in Ireland allows a qualified informant, e.g. surviving relative, a period of 3 months to register a death. This delay precluded prudent monitoring of all-cause mortality during a pandemic, so we experimented with monitoring published death notices, on a commercially owned website, www.rip.ie. Due to Ireland's tendency to bury their dead within a matter of days, death notices are placed within one day. Market and cultural forces, conveniently placed rip.ie as a data source which transpired to be an accurate and timely means of monitoring mortality in close to real time.
