Overview
- The National Archives, which published the records online Saturday, has made more than 700,000 household returns searchable for free on nationalarchives.ie.
- The census counted 2,971,992 people and serves as the first national tally taken by the Irish Free State in 1926.
- The release follows a three‑year conservation and digitisation effort that cleaned, repaired, un‑laced and high‑speed scanned every page before transcription.
- Public outreach includes The Story of Us exhibition at Dublin Castle opening Sunday and a 48‑member Centenarian Ambassadors program capturing first‑hand memories.
- The records introduce new research angles because forms could be completed in Irish, the family was the key unit, and employment questions were more detailed, offering insight into a population down about 5.3% since 1911.