Summonses over failure to fill out census form

The Central Statistics Office is to serve court summons on up to eight people for failing to fill out their census forms — with some claiming they did not want to do so in case the information was passed to Irish Water.

The court actions are brought under the Statistics Act against anyone who fails to provide information to census takers or who knowingly provides false information.

After recent censuses, there has been a number of households who failed to comply with requirements to fill out the forms, but the number that eventually makes it to a district court is small as many of those who initially refused to co-operate provide forms at a later stage.