Source: Reproduced with the kind permission of the Cork City and County Archives Service
The public release of the 1926 Census returns in April 2026 represented a landmark moment in Ireland's statistical and social history. The first full census conducted in independent Ireland offers far more than a population count. At a national level, the records provide new insight into how households understood and experienced life in the early Free State while, at an individual level, they reveal the texture of everyday life, mapping family ties, institutional affiliations, and social networks across communities.
To mark this important release, University College Cork's School of History, with support from the Central Statistics Office, hosted a one-day symposium that brought together historians, demographers, archivists, statisticians and genealogists from Ireland, Northern Ireland and England to explore the significance and research potential of the 1926 Census. This series of articles exemplifies some of the papers presented at that symposium and demonstrate the extraordinary richness of the census and its importance.
For more information please visit Census 1926.