John Gilroy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this Bill as something which all of us should support. For a change, I am able to speak on an issue related to the basis of my election to this House. I was nominated through the cultural and educational panel because I am an author.

I recently published a book about a murder that took place in Athboy, County Meath, in 1913. The ability to use the 1911 census in researching for that book was unbelievably useful. One of the protagonists in the book, Peter Farrell, lived on Lower Kevin Street and we could find him in the 1911 census. Not only did it illuminate the personal details of the protagonist but it also demonstrated the horrible conditions that obtained in Kevin Street. For example, No. 85 Kevin Street was a 17-room house accommodating 97 people. When we read about these figures we are put into the milieu in which people lived. One can read their handwriting and the care they took to get their details right. It was fabulous to read these details. What made the 1913 census important from a social point of view was the ability to compare it with the 1901 census. If we could further compare it to the 1926 census we would find a fantastically rich texture in social history.

More than 437 families lived in 87 houses on Lower Kevin Street in 1901. Only 30 of those same families were living on the street in 1911. The information to be drawn from that comparison is more important than the census itself because it shows a society on the move. We know about the unrest that occurred in 1913 because of the Lock-out and other events. Given the sheer poverty and hopelessness in which a considerable number of people lived, as well as the transience of the population, it is amazing that the lid on social unrest did not blow completely.

Senator Byrne noted that his roots are in County Mayo. My own family moved to Athboy, County Meath, from County Mayo in 1901. It was great to find my great-grandmother listed as living on Connaught Street in Athboy in the 1901 census.

She lived just up the road from the fabulously and appropriately named Mr. Christopher Proudfoot, Athboy's shoemaker at the time. These are the social historical elements.

The census is a complementary rather than absolute source for genealogical research. The record of deaths, births and marriages is probably more important for anyone wishing to trace his or her lineage to 1865, when it became a requirement to register such events.

It is fantastic that Senator Ó Murchú has introduced this Bill. It needs to be supported. Senator Barrett hinted at certain events that allegedly happened in Cork, where I live, and that have been written about by the late Peter Hart and, more recently, Gerald Murphy. I am referring to the movement of the Church of Ireland population from Cork. Instead of trying to use a macro view to establish what happened, the 1926 census might be able to show more details in a micro view.

It is unfortunate that many of the census returns from the late 19th century no longer exist, but I came across some fragments of the 1831 census of some of the baronies of upper Navan, County Meath, that made for fascinating reading. Pre-Famine, they show the social dynamic of massive land clearances as the form of agriculture changed from tillage to pasture. This is important information, particularly when we do not have a clear picture of the societal changes that led to or exacerbated the hardships experienced in the 1840s. For example, no one was living in the upper Navan area, particularly out towards Trim. There were what we would now call ranches of several thousand acres devoted purely to the rearing and fattening of cattle. This is important information.

The 1926 census will open up opportunities for comparisons with other censuses and present a rich source of research, not just for genealogy, but for all elements of social history. I commend Senator Ó Murchú on introducing this Bill. I could discuss this subject all day long, as it is one in which I have a particular interest, but I have said enough. I hope to be able to support this good initiative.