The next census is likely to contain, for the first time, questions seeking to establish the ethnic identity of members of the population, The Irish Times has learned.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has been redrafting the census form, including drawing up new questions, and these will go to the Government for approval before the next census, due on April 29th, 2001. The Government normally accepts recommendations on the census from the CSO.
The new questions include one with tick-boxes relating to ethnic origin. People will be asked to tick boxes marked "Irish", "Irish Traveller", "British" and "Other". There will be space to specify the "Other".
Other new questions relate to disability, and carers. People will be asked if they give unpaid help to a family member, and to quantify it.
They will also be asked what time they leave home for work, school or college, as part of collecting information on traffic flow.
Ms Pauline Reynolds of the census section of the CSO told The Irish Times that the new form had been piloted last September and had produced a very good response. "We found we would get fairly robust information from it," she said.
Mr Aidan Punch, senior statistician with the CSO, said the pilot programme for the new form had been carried out in 32 enumeration areas, taking in 8,000 of the population, selected to be socially and geographically representative.
The CSO advertised for suggested questions, and had the help of an external consultative group, broadly representative of different interest groups, he said.
There has been concern among those working in the areas of social exclusion and equality that there has been a dearth of information on certain minorities, especially Travellers.