A bottom-up methodology for a national baseline data collection of the social enterprise sector: the experience of Ireland

The launch of Ireland’s National Social Enterprise Policy in 2019 represented a milestone for social enterprises in Ireland. However, the policy and previous reports stress the limited data about social enterprises at national level; against this background, the Irish Government commissioned in 2022 a research project to fill this gap. The aim of this paper is to discuss the process for establishing a methodology towards a baseline data collection exercise of social enterprises in Ireland, where official statistics do not account for this type of organisations. The methodology draws from conceptual frameworks and international experiences for building statistics of social and solidarity economy organisations, including social enterprises census and baseline exercises. Moreover, the methodology is informed by a consultation process with Irish stakeholders consisting of four focus groups (87 participants), 15 semi-structured interviews and three meetings with experts’ committees. The methodology shows how baseline information on social enterprises in Ireland was built through intermediaries lists and an ad-hoc survey. The dependence on intermediaries and the lack of publicly available financial data on social enterprises in Ireland poses challenges, especially in terms of validity. However, using an official definition, data triangulation from different intermediaries, trust and engagement developed through the consultation process partially address the challenges. The methodology developed is context-sensitive, focusing on Ireland; however, it allows for some degree of international comparability and offers guidelines for building baseline information of social enterprises, especially in countries where these organisations are not captured by official statistics.