Prof Ciara Breathnach discusses why the release of 1926 Irish census records is so momentous
20 Apr 2026
As 80 million people globally claim Irish ancestry, Prof Ciara Breathnach, Professor of Irish Gender History, highlights the significance of the public release of the 1926 Irish census, made available online one hundred years after it was conducted.
As the first full census of independent Ireland, it provides rare insights into everyday life in the early Irish Free State, capturing family structures, language use, employment, religion and migration in the aftermath of revolution and civil war.
Its release is particularly momentous given the loss of earlier census records in 1922, offering an invaluable resource for scholars, communities and Ireland’s global diaspora.
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