Census limited by shortage of funds
A leading official at the State group confirmed the situation at the launch of the April 24 version of the key planning document at Government Buildings yesterday.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference attended by caretaker taoiseach Enda Kenny, senior statistician Deirdre Cullen said the latest version of the five-yearly national questionnaire will be identical to the 2011 version — apart from a single change to account for last year’s marriage equality referendum.
Asked if further changes to Irish people’s approach to specific issues such as religion and ethnicity should also have been included due to the changing demographics of the country, Ms Cullen said the reality is that not enough funding was provided to allow the issues to be examined.
“The 2016 census has been run as a no-change census,” she said. “The board did not have the resources or budget to conduct a public consultation and test new questions.
“It is very much in our users’ interest to keep all the information we gather as relevant to today’s modern Ireland as possible.
“So of course we would have liked to introduce new questions and to change questions, but our users are really glad we’re having any kind of census at all, given planning began back in 2011 when we all know Ireland was suffering significant hardship,” she said.
The latest census — which all people in Ireland are legally obliged to take part in — will take place on April 24.
