TOMORROW NIGHT an estimated two million census forms – one for every household in the country – will be filled in.
Filling out a census form is obligatory by law and not doing so or intentionally filling in false information is punishable with up to a €25,000 fine.
It is expected that the results will show the highest population levels recorded in Ireland since 1861, with the Central Statistics Office estimating that more than 4.4 million people currently live in the Republic of Ireland.
If confirmed, that figure would represent more than a 200,000 increase on the population recorded during the previous census in 2006.
The process of filling out each individual form should take roughly 30 minutes for the average house.
Once completed, an enumerator (the person who handed you the form originally) will come to collect it sometime before May 9th.
The census itself contains 35 questions – mostly multiple choice – for each person present in the house, as well as 12 general household questions.
The individual sections ask basic questions such as age, gender, date of birth and place of normal residence. There are also social questions included such as your education, employment, how you travel to work and whether you speak Irish.
Two new questions have been added to this year’s form from the previous census in 2006.
One of the new questions asks how healthy you feel you are. The Central Statistics Office hope that by gathering a countrywide picture of how health is tied to demographics such as age, sex, employment and education, healthcare services in Ireland will know more about key areas that need improvement.
The other new question asks about languages spoken in the home other than English or Irish. It will also ask those who do speak another language to rate how fluent they are in English.
The question was included to target State resources to people who may struggle speaking English as well as gauge their ability to participate in society through their answers to other questions.
One somewhat ambiguous question is question 12, “What is your religion?” The Central Statistics Office has instructed that the question does not refer to frequency of attendance at a place of worship but rather how you feel now about your religious beliefs or lack thereof.
Atheist Ireland has reminded people who consider themselves atheists not to actually write atheist in the other religion section and instead tick the “no religion” option as atheism itself is not a religion.
There is also a small section provided for people who usually reside in the house but for whatever reason are absent on the night of Sunday, April 10th.
People who are away from their usual residence should fill out a form from wherever they are on the night. Question 7 (part b) allows you to state where you normally live.
A final publication of results from the census is expected in late 2012.
Further details about the census are available on census.ie.