Census measures progress but it also depicts chasms in Irish society

SO, HOW are you doing? Did you fill in your census form on Sunday? I hope you did, because without it there are a lot of choices we won’t be able to make.

Of course, the census is critical in answering the above question - how are you doing (or rather, how are we all doing as a country)? But it's also critical to all our future planning, and to the policy choices that are available.

Now, I know Sunday was a particularly tough day, and that, for many, the census was probably a bit of a distraction from the main business in hand.