Difficulty accessing gated complexes hinders delivery of census forms

Many census enumerators have encountered difficulties gaining access to gated communities and apartment buildings, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has said.

The CSO is calling on people who live in such buildings and management companies to support enumerators to gain access.

However, the organisation has played down reports on social media this week that enumerators were getting frequent abuse from people on the doorsteps.

“We are aware of a small number of reports circulating on social media of negative incidents impacting on enumerators,” a spokesman for Census 2022 said, responding to a query from The Irish Times.

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“Overall, the public are very supportive of the census and enumerators have made excellent progress. In just two weeks they have visited over 1 million homes and delivered more than a third of the required forms.”

A team of over 5,000 enumerators are continuing to deliver census forms this weekend ahead of census night on Sunday, April 3rd.

Eileen Murphy, head of census administration, said: “The census continues to enjoy widespread public support, which is required to ensure a successful census.

“Despite this support many enumerators have encountered difficulties gaining access to gated communities and apartment buildings.

"We would welcome the support of people by facilitating access to enumerators. By law everyone present in Ireland on April 3rd must have their data entered on a census form, so it is important that everyone receives their form before then.

“Census enumerators work weekends and evenings, when people are most likely to be at home. This coming four-day weekend will be a busy one for enumerators as they will aim to take advantage of people being at home.”

Ms Murphy said census enumerators wear high-vis clothing and carry official CSO ID, adding that more information on how to identify an enumerator is available on census.ie.

“There is still two weeks for forms to be delivered and enumerators will be busy working right up until census weekend,” she said.