Ireland’s next census will take place one month from today on Sunday 3 April – with a brand new feature for the future.
Each form will have a time capsule at the end for people to leave a message – if you wish – for your descendants / future generations / historians. The Time Capsule is completely voluntary, and your message can be about anything you want, to anyone you want.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has said that this year’s census will generate a detailed picture of social and living conditions in Ireland.
A team of 5,100 enumerators has commenced the process of delivering over 2 million forms to every household in the country. These forms must be completed on census night and will be collected by an enumerator before 6 May. Everyone present in Ireland on 3 April must be included on a census form.
Eileen Murphy, Head of Census Administration provided practical advice to people preparing for Census 2022. “An enumerator will call to your home in the coming days or weeks to deliver your census form. They will be wearing easily identifiable clothing and carry a census ID badge. Please support the census by facilitating your form’s delivery.
“When your census form arrives keep it in a safe place to fill it out on the evening of 3 April. Please read the instructions carefully, fill it out in a blue or black pen. If you have any questions your enumerator can help.”
Pádraig Dalton, Director General of the CSO emphasised the privacy of the information collected in the census: “Everyone participating can be reassured that the information they provide is confidential, will only be reported as aggregate data, and will not be released to any third party or government agency.”
Census forms are available in Irish and English while guides are also available in another 22 languages to assist those for whom Irish or English is not a first language. A range of additional accessibility supports and ‘how to’ guides are available on census.ie.
The Census forms from 1901 and 1911 are freely available here.
