Written answers

Tuesday, 22 May 2012

Department of Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht Affairs

National Census

9:00 pm

Photo of Catherine MurphyCatherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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Question 446: To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if provision was made in the contracts for digitising the 1901 and 1911 census for corrections to be made as they are discovered; if such provision has been made, the time period involved; if no provision was made the way the corrections are being handled; in the absence of such provision if he will he include such provision when work on the 1926 census is commenced; the funds that have been spent so far on both projects; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25118/12]

Photo of Jimmy DeenihanJimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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During the transcription of the 1911 census, independent statistical analysis, supplemented with scrutiny by a genealogist expert in Irish names, was commissioned to establish the levels of accuracy of transcription. The average level of accuracy was found to be 99.21%, regarded as perfectly acceptable by international standards. The accuracy threshold set by The National Archives in Britain for the 1911 census was 98.5%. Genealogical scrutiny continued during the transcription of the 1901 census, and accuracy levels were deemed to be similar to those for 1911.

The census website contains a dynamic error transcription form to allow users to report mistranscriptions. Such proposed corrections have to be verified in the National Archives, and if found to be correct, are inputted to the database as and when resources permit.

The census digitisation project cost €4.6 million, of which 21% was paid in VAT to the Irish revenue authorities. The net cost to the state was €3.64 million. The proposed budget was assessed as excellent value by the Director of the UK Data Archive, an expert in digitisation, before the project began. Library and Archives Canada (LAC), the National Archives partners in the project, have world class expertise in digitising census records to preservation standard, and have provided the National Archives of Ireland with archival standard preservation images.

They also moved from a projected topographical index alone, to a names index, and finally to digitisation of all the fields in the census, without an appreciable increase in the budget. They have digitised all of the information in the census, such as religion, occupation, literacy and marriage information, place of birth, Irish language proficiency etc. The extra information greatly enhances the site's value to scholars of Irish history as well as to family researchers, and makes the Irish census site the most comprehensive free census website in the world.

To date, the site has received 700 million hits and 14 million visits, and is extremely popular with Irish citizens and the Irish Diaspora.

Clearly, the lessons from the work on the 1901 and 1911 census will inform work on the 1926 census.

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