Jim Higgins
Question:14 Mr. J. Higgins asked the Taoiseach if he will consider holding any future census of population on a Saturday rather than a Sunday.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Census of Population.
Censuses of population in Ireland have traditionally been held on Sunday night in April. Sunday night is considered to be the most appropriate night since the greatest number of people are likely to be at home.
Censuses are also for the same reason traditionally taken on a Sunday night in Northern Ireland and Great Britain. Every effort is made to select an identical Irish date for common census years. This avoids the confusion which would otherwise be caused by media publicity campaigns focusing on different dates.
I see no advantage in changing census day from Sunday to Saturday.
Is the Minister of State not aware that we have a considerable mobile population here, that we have, for example, 60,000 people attending third level colleges, that in a county such as my own, which does not have any third level college, 3,500 people attend third level colleges outside the county, that 20,000 people are in boarding schools, that there are commercial travellers and so on? Most of those people can be assumed to be at home on a Saturday and away on a Sunday night. Rather than continue with the old practice, there would be less chance of a distorted population figure if the census were taken on a Saturday night rather than on a Sunday night.
No matter on what night you decide to have the census there will always be a mobile population. I have pointed out the reason for a Sunday night census, which also coincides with the practice in Northern Ireland and Great Britain.
Do we have to do everything as it is done in the North of Ireland and in England? Do we have no options of our own?
Question No. 15, please.