The 1926 census, the first in the Irish State, is to be digitised and put online in April 2026.
The personal details of everybody included in the census in 1926 will be made available free of charge to the public.
It follows the hugely successful public release of the 1901 and 1911 censuses. Within a month of the release of the 1901 census online in 2009, 11 million visitors accessed the National Archives website.
Under the so-called “hundred years rule”, which predates the State, census details on individuals cannot be published until 100 years have elapsed.
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The 1921 census was not held because of the War of Independence. The 1926 one was the first since 1911. It is best remembered for recording a dramatic fall in the Protestant population of the 26 counties for reasons which are disputed to this day.
The Protestant population fell between 1911 and 1926 by 30 per cent. The overall population of the area covered by the Irish Free State declined by 5.3 per cent in the same time period.
Boxes and sheets
The 1926 census is stored in 1,344 boxes containing over 700,000 completed sheets. The census returns are laced together in 2,464 canvas portfolios each one representing an area of enumeration.
Each entry contains 21 datasets including age, sex, marital status, occupation, religion, housing conditions and the ability to speak Irish. In 1926, almost one in five people claimed to be able to speak the language.
The records will give a snapshot of living conditions in the new State including the size of agricultural holdings, the number of people per room and the number of children who died in each family.
In 1926, the population of the Irish Free State was 2,971,992 with 49 per cent male and 51 per cent female. At the previous census in 1911, the population was 3,139,688.
Dublin was the only county to record an increase in population of almost 6 per cent in the intercensal period, while all other counties recorded a loss. Even now the counties of Leitrim, Roscommon, Monaghan, Sligo and Mayo have smaller populations than they had in 1926.
Religion and occupation
In 1926, a total of 92.6 per cent of the population was Catholic.
Of those employed, 51 per cent were in agricultural occupations, 4 per cent were fisherman, 14 per cent were in manufacturing and 7 per cent were domestic servants.
The digitisation of the records will cost €5 million and will be funded by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media. The records will be free to access on the internet globally and this is in line with the Government’s Open Data Strategy which also allowed free access to the 1901 and 1911 censuses.
Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media Catherine Martin said the census was a “fundamental part of our national heritage and collective knowledge”.
She anticipated that the 1926 census would have a “significant global reach once released” given the size of the Irish diaspora internationally and the number of people who claim Irish heritage.
“The €5 million funding will provide for the complex, time-consuming and multistage process to digitise all of the information collected by the first census of the Irish State,” she added.
