Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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282. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will consider making the 1926 census public in the near future, rather than waiting for the 100-year mark as is custom in such cases; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52817/22]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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Details of the 1926 Census have been published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) in 10 volumes as follows:

- Volume 1 - Population, area and valuation of each DED and each larger Unit of Area

- Volume 2 - Occupations

- Volume 3 - Religion and birthplaces

- Volume 4 - Housing

- Volume 5 - Ages, orphanhood and conjugal conditions

- Volume 6 - Industrial status

- Volume 7 - Industries

- Volume 8 - Irish language

- Volume 9 - Dependency

- Volume 10 - General Report

The wealth of information published from the 1926 census tells us that on the night of 18 April 1926, the population of Ireland was 2,971,992 of whom 49% were female and 51% male. At the previous census in 1911, the population was 3,139,688 which means that the population fell by 5.3% in the intervening 15 years. Dublin was the only county to record an increase in population of almost 6% in the period, while all other counties recorded a loss. In 1926, a total of 92.6% of the population was Catholic, an increase from 89.6% in 1911. In 1926, 18.3% of the population could speak Irish compared to 17.6% of people in 1911. Housing conditions showed the average number of persons per room was 1.19 nationwide while 27% of the population lived in conditions where there were more than two persons per room. Of those employed, 51% were in agricultural occupations, 4% were fisherman, 14% were in manufacturing and 7% were domestic servants. These and many more details are published on the Central Statistics Office website at

Sections 33 and 35 of the Statistics Act 1993 allow for the release of information gathered by a Census that relates directly or indirectly to an identifiable person, 100 years after the date that the census was taken. As the 1926 Census was taken on 18 April 1926, this personal information can be made available from 18 April 2026. Consideration is being given to making this information available after that date, subject to GDPR concerns relating to people still living.

Making the details of individuals and households from the 1926 Census available digitally will require a significant volume of work to collate, conserve, index and digitise the original census returns. That work will take several years to complete. Officials from my Department, which includes the National Archives, have carried out preliminary examinations of the work required.