The 1926 census of the modern-day Republic of Ireland is due to be released online for free in April 2026, according to the Irish government.
Between 1821 and 1911, censuses of Ireland were taken along with censuses of the UK.
However, only the 1901 and 1911 censuses now survive in full, because the others were destroyed in the Public Record Office of Ireland fire in 1922.
The island of Ireland was not included in the 1921 census because of the Irish Civil War. The Irish Free State was formed in 1922, and a census of both the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland was carried out on 18 April 1926. However, the records for Northern Ireland have not survived.
The records for the Republic of Ireland, consisting of 630,048 household return sheets with the details of 2,971,992 people, will be digitised by the National Archives of Ireland (NAI) in partnership with the Central Statistics Office. The project will cost €5 million.
The 1901 and 1911 censuses of Ireland are already available for free on the NAI’s website.
Rosemary Collins is the features editor of Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine