Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said the release of the 1926 Census records is “allowing us to step back in time” to the early years of the then Irish Free State, reports Breaking News.
The National Archives of Ireland officially published the records at midnight, following the expiry of the 100-year restriction under the Statistics Act 1993, reports Breaking News.
The material is freely accessible and searchable on its website alongside the 1901 and 1911 census collections, following three years of work on more than 750,000 individual household and enumerator returns.
Martin noted that it was the first census carried out by the independent Irish Free State, which was established in 1922, reports Breaking News.
He described the period as coming after a decade marked by conflict and upheaval, from the Easter Rising and the Irish War of Independence to the Irish Civil War.
“Census 1926 shows the ambition of the new state to carry out a census of the 2.9 million people living in Ireland as part of its programme of nation-building and to do so, so soon after independence, was a bold and visionary decision,” he said, reports Breaking News.
“As such, Census 1926 marks a historic moment in the development of modern Ireland. For people across Ireland, the release of the 1926 Census offers something deeply personal. It allows us to step back in time and encounter our own families, neighbours and communities as they were almost a century ago. It brings history out of the abstract and into the everyday”, reports Breaking News.
Minister for Culture Patrick O’Donovan said it was a “significant day for the country and our diaspora as we see for the first time in a century the records of how we lived in 1926”.
“I want to congratulate the team at the National Archives for their trojan work in getting us to today – not only through carefully cataloguing and preserving the records for generations to come, but also in putting together such a comprehensive programme of activities to allow people to engage with this important part of our history,” he said, reports Breaking News.
Director of the National Archives Orlaith McBride said: “The census has never been about lists and numbers; it’s the story of us.
“It’s about the people living in Ireland in 1926 and all of their descendants today. Whether through the centenarian ambassadors, this exhibition, the book and all the other elements of our extensive public programme, throughout this project we have aimed to ensure the stories, information and human connections revealed by the Census reach as many people as possible, in Ireland and around the world”, reports Breaking News.
To coincide with the release of the 1926 Census, the National Archives has launched a major exhibition exploring life in newly independent Ireland in 1926.
The exhibition will be held at Dublin Castle, opening to the public from April 19th until August 15th, 2027, before travelling to London and Boston and later touring across Ireland, reports Breaking News.
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