Bernard Allen
Question:147 Mr. Allen asked the Taoiseach the number of persons prosecuted for not responding to the 2002 census; and the estimated number of persons who failed to respond. [20607/04]
View answerWednesday, 7 July 2004
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Written answers
Some 4,000 enumerators were employed by the Central Statistics Office to conduct the fieldwork for the 2002 census of population. The enumerators delivered blank census forms to all households in the State in the five week period before census day, 28 April 2002. In the five weeks after census day, they collected the completed forms and subsequently returned them to CSO. A total of 1.29 million households were covered.
The majority of householders co-operated fully with the enumerators in ensuring that their completed census forms were ready for collection after census day. In a number of cases where the householder was not initially convinced of the necessity of returning their completed census form, a further visit by the enumerator or the relevant field supervisor usually resulted in the satisfactory completion of the form.
The estimated number of persons who failed to respond to the census is not precisely known. However, every attempt was made at local level to keep the number of such cases to an absolute minimum. The enumerator and her supervisor highlighted the importance of the census operation to the non-compliant householder and the obligation under law to complete the census form. Where a refusal resulted from this procedure, the enumerator using his or her local knowledge was normally in a position to provide the relevant details. While it would not have been practical to prosecute all of the non-repondents it was decided to take proceedings against three individuals who failed to comply. Two of these resulted in successful prosecutions.
The CSO policy is to emphasise the importance of 100% compliance with the census in order to ensure up to date and comprehensive information on the population at local, regional and national level. A public awareness campaign is mounted around the time of the census to get this message across to the public. However, through the prosecutions it has taken to date, CSO will make it clear in future censuses that it will have no hesitation in prosecuting non-respondents.