RootsChat.Com

Ireland (Historical Counties) => Ireland => Topic started by: Sinann on Tuesday 13 March 18 10:29 GMT (UK)

Title: Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations petition re 1926 Census release.
Post by: Sinann on Tuesday 13 March 18 10:29 GMT (UK)
This is on the go since last December but I hadn't heard anything about.
http://www.irishgenealogynews.com/2018/03/petition-to-release-1926-census.html
Title: Re: Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations petition re 1926 Census release.
Post by: myluck! on Tuesday 13 March 18 11:14 GMT (UK)
I hadn't either - just signed and notice numbers signing going up quickly!
Title: Re: Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations petition re 1926 Census release.
Post by: heywood on Tuesday 13 March 18 11:41 GMT (UK)
I signed it too. It would be great to see if my dad was still at home or if he had left by then.
Title: Re: Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations petition re 1926 Census release.
Post by: Sinann on Tuesday 13 March 18 12:00 GMT (UK)
I hadn't either - just signed and notice numbers signing going up quickly!

I don't think it going up quite as fast as it looks, it seems to start at a lower number than goes up fairly quickly and finally settles, but it has gone up a good bit since this morning.
Title: Re: Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations petition re 1926 Census release.
Post by: SJ Bann on Monday 19 March 18 23:11 GMT (UK)
Thanks for this post Sinann. I would have missed this otherwise.
I had read up about the 1926 census and it not being released early. I am surprised there hasn't been a petition sooner.

Signed & shared! ;)

 
Title: Re: Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations petition re 1926 Census release.
Post by: eadaoin on Friday 12 October 18 18:54 BST (UK)
Does anyone know about the current progress of the release of 1926 Census?
Title: Re: Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations petition re 1926 Census release.
Post by: Wexflyer on Saturday 13 October 18 08:20 BST (UK)
Governments and countries should keep their word.

The 1926 census was completed with a legal guarantee that material would not be released for 100 years.  To break that promise is a breach of faith.
Title: Re: Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations petition re 1926 Census release.
Post by: Sinann on Saturday 13 October 18 09:30 BST (UK)
100 year rule came in in 1936
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/releasing-1926-census-data-1.3193490

Opps 1993
Title: Re: Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations petition re 1926 Census release.
Post by: Wexflyer on Saturday 13 October 18 09:36 BST (UK)
I am not so sure of that. The BBC say otherwise.
Title: Re: Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations petition re 1926 Census release.
Post by: Sinann on Saturday 13 October 18 10:13 BST (UK)
I am not so sure of that. The BBC say otherwise.
???
Title: Re: Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations petition re 1926 Census release.
Post by: Sinann on Saturday 13 October 18 10:17 BST (UK)
The act wasn't in place at the time the census was taken.
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/an-irishman-s-diary-1.1081733

You can argue that the rule still applies as it was put in place later but not that the people in 1926 were given that promise.
Title: Re: Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations petition re 1926 Census release.
Post by: Wexflyer on Saturday 13 October 18 11:00 BST (UK)
The act wasn't in place at the time the census was taken.
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/an-irishman-s-diary-1.1081733

You can argue that the rule still applies as it was put in place later but not that the people in 1926 were given that promise.
You have been misinformed.
The 1926 census was performed under regulations made in accordance with the Statistics Act, 1926.
The Statistics Act is available online. Section 13(1) gives a time unlimited commitment that the information gathered under the Act would not be published without the consent of the individuals concerned.
The text of the relevant Section is as follows:
"13.—(1) No individual schedule, form, or other document filled in or otherwise completed by any person in pursuance of any requisition made under this Act and no part of any such document and no verbal information or answer given relating to any individual person, business or concern shall without the consent of such person be published or, except for the purposes of a prosecution under this Act, be shown or communicated to any person other than an officer of statistics concerned therewith in the course of his duty as such officer."
Title: Re: Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations petition re 1926 Census release.
Post by: hallmark on Saturday 13 October 18 11:10 BST (UK)
Irish statistics were compiled under the provisions of the Statistics Acts, 1926 and 1946 up until 1 November 1994 when the Statistics Act, 1993 came into operation.  https://www.cso.ie/en/aboutus/lgdp/legislation/statisticsact1993/
Title: Re: Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations petition re 1926 Census release.
Post by: Wexflyer on Saturday 13 October 18 11:24 BST (UK)
Irish statistics were compiled under the provisions of the Statistics Acts, 1926 and 1946 up until 1 November 1994 when the Statistics Act, 1993 came into operation.  https://www.cso.ie/en/aboutus/lgdp/legislation/statisticsact1993/

I don't see how this affects in any way the fact that the 1926 Census was performed under the 1926 Statistics Act, which Act contains a provision for absolute confidentiality. The Act specifically prohibits release of the information obtained. Mr Smyrl's assertion in the Letter you linked to is simply incorrect.
Title: Re: Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations petition re 1926 Census release.
Post by: hallmark on Saturday 13 October 18 11:31 BST (UK)
Never said or implied it did!!
Title: Re: Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations petition re 1926 Census release.
Post by: Sinann on Saturday 13 October 18 12:26 BST (UK)
That was so people wouldn't lie on the Census for fear of prosecution, it doesn't apply to the 100 year rule.
Title: Re: Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations petition re 1926 Census release.
Post by: Purpeller on Thursday 18 October 18 23:20 BST (UK)
Sinann is right. The people had no notion of a 100 year seal and wouldn't have cared in a time when people barely reached 70 on average. 1901 and 1911 were released in the 1960s so there is already a precedent for early release.

The Central Statistics Office is using this to avoid the issue. Regardless of whether it gets an "early" release or becomes available in 2026, the CSO needs to be working on it now. The earlier two were already microfilmed so when it came to digitisation, one step was complete. 1926 is still a lot of boxes of paper, albeit omitting the 6 NI counties, it's a massive undertaking.

They also need to get used to the idea of releasing a new census every 10 years (and then every 5 once we hit 1956).
Title: Re: Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations petition re 1926 Census release.
Post by: Wexflyer on Friday 19 October 18 01:28 BST (UK)
Sinann is right. The people had no notion of a 100 year seal and wouldn't have cared in a time when people barely reached 70 on average.

Really? Then why is "STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL", in capitals, plastered across the census forms?
Try as you might, it is simply untrue to claim, as some are doing in the media, that there was no promise of confidentiality. There was. In statute law. On the forms themselves.