Census 1926 records now online with details of employers available for first time

Eva Osborne

Saturday marks 100 years since the first census was carried out in the Irish Free State.

The entire database is now available to access online, with an exhibition also being launched at Dublin Castle.

The census shows a population of under 3 million people, a drop of more 5 per cent from the 32 county census in 1911.

Director of the National Archives of Ireland, Orlaith McBride, said there is a wealth of information available.

"With the personal information being released, we're able to get an even better understanding in terms of the way people lived, how they lived, where they lived," she said.

"So we have categories like age, occupation, religion, birth place, but also for the first time we have details on employers.

"So we'll be able to get a real sense of, particularly in urban or market towns, where people worked and who were the employers."

The 1926 Irish census recorded a population of 2,971,992, a decrease of 5.3 per cent from the 1911 census.

Census 1926 is stored in 1,299 boxes, containing over 700,000 return sheets.

Click here to search through Census 1926.