LEADING GENEALOGICAL groups are calling on the Government to make public the returns of the 1926 census.
Almost 400 signatures have been added to a petition opened on Sunday last by the Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations, calling on Taoiseach Brian Cowen to release the records.
Access to the 1901 and 1911 census returns has been available for public research for more than 40 years. The National Archives is currently making the 1911 returns freely available on the internet.
However, under the Statistics Act (1993), census returns after 1911 are to be protected from a breach of confidentiality for 100 years, which would see the 1926 records released in 2026.
Michael Merrigan, general secretary of the Genealogical Society of Ireland, has written a Bill proposing an amendment of the statistics Act which would allow for the 1926 census to be opened.
“The 1926 census should now be released for research,” said Mr Merrigan.
“The years between the 1911 census and that of 1926 were arguably the most turbulent in modern Irish history. It included the outbreak of World War I in 1914, which was eventually to see around 49,000 Irishmen killed before it ended in 1918, and the Easter Rising in 1916 followed by the General Election in 1918 leading to the establishment of the First Dáil in 1919. The first Dáil was followed by the Irish War of Independence, the establishment of the Free State, and Civil War.
“This 15-year period has also an enormous cultural and linguistic significance in that the Gaeltacht areas were much more extensive, with native speakers existing in counties that today have no Gaeltachtaí within their borders.”
Mr Merrigan’s proposed Statistics (Heritage Amendment) Bill 2008 would afford the 1926 census a “special heritage status” releasing these records only.
The 100-year rule contrasts with the situation in other western democracies with the exception of the United Kingdom.
In the United States, the census returns from 1790 to 1930 are online.
The Irish census returns for 1821, 1831, 1841 and 1851 were destroyed in a fire in June 1922.
The returns for 1861 and 1871 were officially destroyed following the extraction of the statistical data and those for 1881 and 1891 were pulped by the UK authorities during the first World War.