Census centenary - Striking similarities 100 years on

IF you think things are bad now, consider what it was like in the Ireland of a hundred years ago when the 1911 Census was compiled.

As one might expect, stark contrasts are thrown up by this fascinating precursor to next Sunday’s Census — but a century later the similarities are even more striking.

In the first decade of the 20th century, poverty was rampant, jobs just as scarce as today, and then as now Ireland’s sovereignty was not in the hands of the Irish people.