The upcoming release of the 1926 census records of Ireland will be celebrated across a major public programme of events next year.
The National Archives will make the entire 1926 census, comprising over 700,000 individual household returns, freely available and freely searchable online on 18 April 2026.
Announcing the programme to mark the release of the census on its centenary, Minister for Culture, Patrick O'Donovan and National Archives Director Orlaith McBride confirmed that the plans include: a landmark RTÉ documentary, major exhibitions across Ireland and in London and Boston; as well as a book 'the Story of Us, Independent Ireland and the 1926 Census featuring essays from 18 historians and a new theatrical production with the acclaimed ANU productions company.
Describing the release of the 1926 census records as "a historic moment", Minister O'Donovan said that the records offer an "invaluable account of life as the Irish free state took its first steps" as an independent nation.
He added that it is a "fascinating snapshot of the foundation of our state".
Ms McBride said that while "everybody knows a census is about the population, data and statistics," they are keen to emphasise that with the "distance of 100 years, it's about stories, people, communities and places".
The celebrations, she said, "focus on how we can animate the stories that live within the census information".
"It's taken years of meticulous work," said Keeper of Manuscripts at the National Archives Zoë Reid, explaining how the team "started off with cataloguing all the 1,344 boxes of material" that had been preserved for nearly 100 years.
The process of preparing the physical census information for this online launch saw the archivists then carrying out intricate conservation work, with Ms Reid explaining how "we had 10 conservators working on the project," and then the final step was the digitisation of the records.
As part of today's launch, the National Archives invited Minister O'Donovan to view his own family's census entry, where he saw his great-grandfather's entry, stating his home address as Newcastle West, and the Minister said he was very "moved" to see his grandfather listed amongst the family names there.
Part of the celebrations include a search for official Centenarian Ambassadors who were born before 18 April 1926 and are still alive today.
The programme, Ms McBride said, "is designed to bring the historical insights from the 1926 census to a global audience" and she predicted that there will be "strong interest" from people across the world who have Irish roots.
