Statistics (Decade of Centenaries) Bill 2020: Second Stage [Private Members] Dail Éireann — 2021-10-21 ============================================================ Frankie Feighan (FG), Sligo-Leitrim If there are other such issues, it is in the interest of us all that they be resolved. I think we are all mature now and cop that this should be done. I would applaud anybody for bringing them to the Minister for Defence, maybe, to get them resolved. I thank Deputy Ó Laoghaire for his contribution. As for the Army records and the archives, Deputy Martin Kenny and I share a very interesting history. I refer to the divisions of the past 100 years, with partition and so on. My grandfather, James Feely, was imprisoned and released on the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. He would not have survived only for John A. Kearney, who was the district inspector in Tralee barracks and the person who arrested Roger Casement. When the Black and Tans came to assassinate my grandfather, he was saved by District Inspector Kearney. Then, in this very Chamber, Austin Stack, who was supposed to have released District Inspector Kearney from the barracks in Tralee, came into the Dáil and made spurious allegations that he engaged in mistreatment. He and his family had to leave Boyle overnight and went to London, where he rose to the rank of, I think, second in command in the Metropolitan Police. However, he was due to be put in charge of An Garda Síochána. Michael Collins had written to him to ask him. It just shows you that history and historical facts sometimes are missed. Roger Casement, from what I hear, was a very good friend of or was well treated by District Inspector Kearney. District Inspector Kearney was a republican who left the door open for Austin Stack to release him and, from what I hear, Austin Stack bottled it and years later came into the Dáil. That is recorded in a book, possibly one about the Kerry landings but I am not sure. I like to put little things like that on the record sometimes. In the 15 years since the previous census was taken, in 1911, Ireland had gone through a dramatic change, starting with the Lock-out of 1913, then the First World War from 1914 to 1918, the Easter Rising of 1916 and the War of Independence from 1919 to 1921, which led to the Civil War of 1922 to 1923 and the partition of Ireland, starting in 1921. Just three years on from the Civil War and five years since partition was enacted, it will be fascinating to see what happened to families within what was then known as the Irish Free State. It will be a poignant moment for many people of Irish ancestry, not just here but across the globe. With that in mind, I am glad to confirm to the House that the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin, has committed €5 million for work on the 1926 census project to commence, thereby enabling the release of the 1926 census as scheduled in April 2026, in accordance with the Statistics Act 1993. I believe that in order for this work to happen, the National Archives, in collaboration with the Central Statistics Office, CSO, need the time they now have to ensure that this vital record set is correctly conserved, digitally imaged and transcribed. The 1926 census can then be made available to the public on 18 April 2026. This Bill is well intentioned. I must admit, though, that the timeline would be a significant challenge. Given the growing interest in genealogy and the heightened public awareness of the history of the early years of the 20th century, the only realistic method of making the census widely available to the public is to digitise it and place it online. Census 1926 is currently the property of the CSO. The National Archives will work with the CSO under the terms of a joint memorandum of understanding, MOU, that enables the National Archives to undertake the complex work associated with providing public access in digital form to the census returns in April 2026. The MOU will cover the following areas: that legal control of the records remains with the CSO; that permission is granted to the National Archives to work on the records in the meantime; that assurances are provided to the CSO in respect of the work to be carried out on the records and the conservation and security of the records, including the requirement that the forms and images do not leave the State; that there is recognition or appointment of officers of statistics within the National Archives; what the considerations to controls around contractors viewing the records are; and an agreement that the MOU can be updated if required with the consent of both parties. By way of example I will outline to the Deputy the precise and delicate nature of the work that the National Archives working in conjunction with the CSO will have to undertake. To enable the safe, accurate and complete digitisation of census 1926, I will outline some of the actions that will need to be carried out. Census portfolio side stitches will be removed to ensure each individual census return form can be separated, safely handled and digitised. Any dirt present will be removed to ensure that all handwritten text is legible and clear to read. All creases and folds will be removed to ensure that all handwritten text is legible and clear to read. All tears will be removed to ensure that further damage does not occur and the census return form can be safely handled during digitisation. All of the census portfolio cover boards will be retained and the unique order of the census return forms will also be retained. Following digitisation, secure archival housing for the census return forms for long-term archival storage will be required. This may include vacuum sealing the records post-digitisation for security and long-term preservation. In 1993, it was generally accepted that 100 years was a reasonable compromise in all the circumstances, including having regard to increasing life expectancy and the need to protect the data of all individuals. As we know, there are many more people now living to more than 100 years. The Data Protection Commissioner will have to be consulted on the matter, irrespective of when the personal details in the 1926 census are published. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2021-10-21/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:49:44+00:00 Sitting date: 2021-10-21