Explainer: Here's what you need to know when filling out your census form tonight
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Census Night has arrived, the first in six years. But what is the purpose of the census, do I need to fill it out, and how do I do it?
The census is a count and an account of Ireland’s population on Census Night, which takes place today, Sunday, April 3. By law, everyone in the country on that night must be included on a census form.
The data collected through the census provides vital information to help plan for homes, schools, hospitals, transport, age-related services, and other services that are needed in our communities and country.
One of the great strengths of the census is that it shows the number of people living in each region, county, town, and local area and provides detailed population figures at each level. This helps identify the demand for services both locally and nationally.
The legal basis for the data collection is provided by the Statistics Act 1993, the Data Protection Act 2018, and the Statistics (Census of Population) Order, 2020.
The census is organised by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) which employ a temporary field force of 5,600 people to help carry out the census at local and regional level.
Census forms are distributed to every household and communal establishment (for examples, hotels, hospitals) by census enumerators, who also collect the completed forms.
The CSO says it takes “all possible security measures” to make sure that census information is private. Your information is secured and protected by law.
Your census form will be collected and processed by officers of statistics employed directly by the CSO. No one else will have access to your census form.
Under the Statistics Act 1993, the census returns must be treated as strictly private and may be used only for statistical purposes.
All Census 2022 forms will be processed in the CSO’s census headquarters in Swords, Co Dublin, where all information is stored on a closed CSO network. This network is fully owned by the CSO. The detailed census information will not be copied or removed from this network.
If you or your household are staying at a different location within Ireland tonight, make sure you complete your census form in the location you are present in.
If you are in a hotel, guesthouse, hospital, or other communal establishments, ensure that you have been provided with a census form and complete it there.
If a member of the household is away from home, they should be included in the absent persons section at the back of the form, regardless of whether they are in the country or abroad.
If an entire household is abroad, they will not complete a census form but the enumerator will take a few details on the doorstep when they call.
If you are working shift work tonight, you complete your census form when you return home the following morning.
An enumerator will return to collect your completed census form between April 4 and May 6. If your form has not yet been collected by May 6, return it in a large envelope to:
Central Statistics Office, PO Box 2021, Freepost 4726, Swords, Co. Dublin. K67 D2X4
Yes. The new and changed questions proposed in these submissions were discussed by an advisory group, which selected those to be trialled in the census pilot forms.
The form itself features eight new questions on renewable energy sources, internet access, smoking, volunteering, and working from home, as well as 25 questions that have been reworked. These topics were selected after the public consultation and pilot survey described above.
Many other questions — for example those on religion and long-lasting conditions — have also been changed to varying degrees.
In a new addition, people will be asked to fill in anonymous messages which will be held by the CSO for 70 years before being transferred to the National Archives to be unsealed in 2122.
On the census website, it says: “The time capsule is completely voluntary, and it is entirely up to you whether you wish to write anything here or not. The only thing we ask is that you do not add any paper, documents, photos, or anything attachable as we will not be able to preserve them or return them to you.”