Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry I was not here for the beginning of the debate; I was on a Zoom meeting as many of us are during these times.

I fully support the Bill. The census of 1926 would illuminate a lot of stuff that happened during the 15-year period when there was no census. During the formation of the new State in my part of the world, Leitrim, and in Border counties there were movements of populations to the North. In fact, some Protestant families moved North and then moved back again. A lot of information can be gleaned and statistics can tell us what was happening at that time. The terrible catastrophe of the First World War that affected so many people and families is also part of that. There is also the possibility of being able to use historical records of this nature to shine a light into places we do not have the same level of information about as we would have in normal circumstances. It would be very appropriate.

My grand uncle and the grandfather of the Minister of State shared a cell in Mountjoy in 1920. Many of our families interact. While they took different sides after that, there is always a sense that at one time we all stood together for freedom in this country. When we all stand together for something, an opportunity to stand together on something like this is also part of it.

We can do that here. It would make sense for the Government to recognise that this is an opportune time, in this centenary year and this time of looking back on the past and trying to be measured and unifying about it, to do that and that the census of 1926 would give us information on that.

While it is important to know about history, we often find, and we certainly did when we were in school, that history is a list of dates of what happened, where it happened and when it happened. The most interesting part of history, however, is not the dates or the where and the when but what it was like for the people who lived then, how they experienced the time and what impact it had on their lives and on the lives of their families, their neighbours, the people around them and the community in which they lived. Census documents are not just a list of who was in each household; they tell us a lot of other stories as to what impact various events had. The Spanish flu was, of course, another huge event in many parts of the country, not so much in rural areas but very much in the cities and urban areas, where people were much closer together. That is where it had the biggest impact but it had a huge impact.

The fact that there were 15 years from the census in 1911 right through to 1926 tells us there is an awful lot of history in the 1926 census. Its release as quickly as possible is clearly sensible and has the backing of, I think, every sensible historian in the country. Many people do research into these things and have a huge interest in that time. It would be remiss of the Government and a mistake to put off its release for a year or any longer than is absolutely necessary. There is no necessity to put it off for a year. I therefore implore the Minister and the Government to withdraw their amendment and to support the Bill as it is before the House.

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