The Government has announced details of the 2002 Census which will take place on the night of Sunday 28 April. 1.4 million households throughout the country are due to receive census forms over the coming weeks.The census should have taken place last year but was postponed because of the foot and mouth crisis.
The forms are to include a number of new questions including queries on personal computer ownership and Internet access, nationality, disability and membership of the Traveller community.
While the Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach, Seamus Brennan, has said the results of the census will be an essential tool for effective policy and decision making, the Director-General of the Central Statistics Office, Donal Garvey, stated that the census would provide a valuable chronicle of the Irish population in modern times. Mr Garvey also said the 2002 population was likely to be the highest since 1871.
