asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce whether he is aware that Census Papers filled in on the night of Sunday, April 18th, in the County Dublin, had not been collected by the Census Enumerators on Monday, April 26th, and whether in view of the danger of such papers being lost or mislaid, he will endeavour to arrange for their more expeditious collection.
PRIVATE NOTICE QUESTION. - COLLECTION OF CENSUS PAPERS.
The Civic Guard were instructed to commence the distribution of Census Forms on Monday, 5th April—that is, they were allowed and required a fortnight for distribution. The time taken in collection will naturally be longer, as the Civic Guard will have to scrutinise forms and in many cases help heads of households to fill in or correct them. The Deputy may rest assured that all these returns will be collected. In exceptional cases, where the head of the household has lost a form the enumerator will see that the return is made on a new form. Everything in connection with the Census is proceeding exactly, having regard to the work to be done and the staff available for it, as anticipated. There is no necessity to make new arrangements or issue new instructions to the Guards, as all possible contingencies have already been covered.
Will the Minister bear in mind that it is inconvenient to keep these confidential papers so that they will be easily available for the enumerator when he calls, and at the same time keep them confidential from servants and others? In Great Britain I think they are collected in the one day.
We could have arranged to collect them more expeditiously by employing a larger staff but doing that would have meant going outside the personnel of the Gárda Síochána. That was considered undesirable. It is recognised that there is danger of papers being mislaid, and instructions have been issued to cover such an emergency. While the papers cannot be collected within the fortnight it is hoped that they will be collected within three weeks.