Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 and 7 together. The preliminary results of census 2011 were published on 30 June. This was just seven weeks after the end of the census field campaign which concluded on 13 May. The results are based on summary counts for each enumeration area, which were compiled by the 4,854 census enumerators and were returned to the CSO in advance of the census forms themselves.

The preliminary release, issued on 30 June, shows the total population of males and females by county, constituency and electoral division. It also provides information on the total housing stock and on vacant dwellings. The preliminary total for the population on census night, 10 April 2011, was 4,581,269 persons. This is an increase of 341,421 on the previous census in 2006 and this equates to an annual average increase of 68,284 persons or 1.6% per year.

Processing of the census forms is under way in the CSO's census processing centre in Swords. Over the coming six months the CSO will scan, process and code 20 million pages of census information. Following this, the first definitive results of the census will be published in March 2012, less than a year after census night. The results will be presented in nine census releases each covering a particular theme and containing thematic maps, interpretation and analysis of the data. A detailed timetable for the census publication programme will be published on the CSO website in September this year.

The CSO and the census field staff received excellent co-operation from the public, and I would like to put on record my appreciation of their participation in the census and my thanks to the census staff for a job well done so far. I look forward to the more detailed census results next year.

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