Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
NEXT YEAR WILL see Ireland’s 26th census and it will require up to 2.3 million census forms to be distributed around the country.
The Central Statistics Office will employ 4,660 people on a temporary basis to deliver these forms and the office has today announced details of that application process.
Competition for the 10-week-job as a census enumerator is always tough and the CSO says they will be accepting up to 15,000 applications.
Enumerators are paid a fixed fee for the delivery and collection of census forms in their area along with fixed allowances for training, home storage, Sunday working and travel.
The CSO says that enumerators will earn approximately €2,400 for the ten week period.
Advertisement
Applications open on 5 January and will stay open for three days unless the 15,000 limit is reached first.
Next year’s census will be held on 24 April 2016, just over five years after the last population count on 10 April 2011.
The last census recorded that the population of Ireland was 4,588,252.
Aside from the topline population figure, the census also records other information including age, religion and employment. Next year’s census will have 30 different questions.
The census forms will be delivered by the enumerators in the five-week period between 21 March and 24 April.
Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article.
Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
Did this last time around and if was one of the worst decisions of my life. No amount of money is worth chasing up the 1% of households who will string you along for weeks and then still not complete it. G.
I did it in 2006 and it was really tough, couldn’t agree with you more. I had 6 blocks of flats, 2 homeless shelters and a few roads of houses. Surprisingly the homeless shelters were the easiest, the flats and apartments the hardest. The enumerators are viewed with such suspicion by lots of foreigners living in Ireland, not answering the door, refusing to answer the door. Having to go back many many times first to drop off the forms and then to collect them. Not a handy number but any means, money well earned by anyone who does it! You meet a lot of interesting people though, good life experience!
Why as the cost of a car is mad and then the fuel is worse. The price of oil has dropped like a stone but at the pumps it is the same price but once the oil rises then it will rise at the pumps. How is that and why???
Totally agree with this man…The minute fuel prices are supposed to increase the pumps will have it increased almost immediately. .but when it’s ment to come down there is no rush. .. typical gready garage owners..
This time the CSO need to make it even clearer than last time that it’s perfectly OK to check the ‘No religion box’ even if you were baptised Catholic. It wasn;t clear enough last time.
Better again, RTE should have long carried out research on this on behalf of the people.
Ah well, the Catholic hierarchy will be thrilled so.
The CSO is an appallingly blunt instrument to gauge this very specific question. Aside from the fact most houselholds likely designate one person to fill out the forms, and so are at the mercy of that individual’s indifference, inaccuracy, indecision or whim, it’s also simply not clear enough that you can tick whatever box you like.
For example, my own mother struggled with it as it states on the forms that “it’s an offence to supply untruthful or inaccurate info” or words to that effect. So she got a little nervous about getting it wrong and so ticked the Catholic box despite the fact she hasn’t practised in 30 years.
I don’t think a no religion box would be correct though. A practising and not practising box would be better, let’s not forget they’re trying to get accurate information.
I ticked the Catholic box last time because I thought it was asking what my official religion was rather than what I thought. I’m agnostic/atheist/spiritual but as always it’s a work in progress so what box do I tick?
Well for me, I consider myself atheist and would never dream of going to mass whether it’s a Sunday or Armageddon but I was baptised, communed and confirmed. So I would tick the not practising box.
The French are secular though and that’s well established. We don;t have that luxury as of yet and until we do the census should have it as a question.
That wouldn’t be accurate either. I consider myself no religion, the CC considers me a non practising Catholic because I was baptised before being old enough to make an informed decision. I doubt they care what the census says since they will still claim the number of Catholics based on who has been baptised.
Maybe this census will go onto highlighting the fact that a lot of people have no religion and get the politicians to legislate so that the bs of having to be baptised to enter a school which is grossly unfair.
You’ll every cent of that €2400. I know someone that did it last time and he said between dogs, foreigners that didn’t or wouldn’t speak English and people who refused point blank to fill out the form it was a nightmare.
Remember when filling out your census form that if you are not religious tick not religious not Catholic. We really need to see honestly who is religious and who isn’t.
Philip, this statistic is actually hugely important. As the census statistics are used to form policy, assign funds and describe a country, Irish people’s proclivity for marking themselves Catholic, out of habit in many cases, distorts the religion statistics. Many people who no longer go to mass, or subscribe to a Catholic viewpoint on God, continue to mark themselves down as Catholics. Finally, in some households, the steadfastly Catholic Irish mammy is the census filler and will mark all of her family as such also, regardless of the truth. Therefore, it is extremely important that we get a true sense of where the people’s religious views are now. It will form the basis for organizing public schools and grants etc for the next five years.
Anyone driving around doing the census should check with their insurance company that they are covered. After all they are using their cars for work. would they covered be if an accident occurs. Will government cover any damage or death caused.
I’ve never filled out the census form. Flatly refused. Totally illogical the way information is gathered.
Usually it’s the bank manager’s wife or someone well connected like that who gets the gig.
Ordinary working class people seldom get the job.
I draw a big dildo in invincible ink on all the pages and will write that certain members of this government are as bent as a U bend on the bottom… lol.
It’s not bickering. It’s an important reflection of Irish society. People ticking a box to make their mother happy perpetuates the myth that we’re a catholic country.
It’s a vitally important piece of info and it has been traditionally used by the RCC to claim they are speakers for the majority and conscience of the nation.
I do not want a secular Ireland .We are a catholic country .I want Christian values go be preserved . .I am disgusted the EU have hijacked this country . Trying to turn it into little europe .
The catholic church raped and beat our children, imprisoned our mothers and trafficked our babies to foreign countries, we don’t like them, you must have missed the Memo.
Orla, remember that if we can close our borders, shut down the internet, stop foreign trade, stop imports of things like tv programming and newspapers, ban books and deprogramme the entire population who have already been exposed to these influences, then we can live in El Dorado. (Sorry about the reference to a mythical place taken from a foreign book. We’ll ban Voltaic first.)
Two types of people emerging.
1. It’s hard work. It’s not worth the effort. Will I lose my social? Will I be taxed? I won’t get it. My cousin’s uncle’s aunt’s daughter’s son was executed when he did it.
2. Money earned for work which doesn’t interfere with my daily work. I’d manage that. That’d pay for a nice holiday. That could go to my kid’s education.
So 36 million euro just for collecting the forms. Another millions for consultation fees, printing, processing… Etc. I’d be surprised if this stopped under 100 million. Who needs to know what religion one is. If they had any clue at all this people’s data could be obtained from Revenue / Social Welfare anyway. I suppose only good thing about it is that some stuck people or students can make few quid.
A lot of people on the dole will think this is a handy one regardless, check with the social welfare first if it affects your payment as it means your technically not available for work.
Presumably the CSO have again partnered with a bastion of the military industrial complex, who have been implicated in war crimes in Iraq to help process this info…
Presumably (again) the media here will choose to ignore this fact and the only discussed negative of this will be the religion question.
'A good deal for everybody': US and EU reach 15% tariff deal after Trump-von der Leyen meeting
Updated
4 hrs ago
48.6k
176
Time to say goodbye
Kerry manager strongly indicates he will step down after All-Ireland win
3 hrs ago
6.5k
Listeria
Various branded spinach and mixed leaves recalled due to detection of listeria
Updated
5 hrs ago
58.7k
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 214 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage . Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework. The choices you make regarding the purposes and vendors listed in this notice are saved and stored locally on your device for a maximum duration of 1 year.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Social Media Cookies
These cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 149 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 195 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 158 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 119 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 120 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 51 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 48 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 177 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 78 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 111 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 116 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 51 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 65 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 36 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 122 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 126 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 94 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 67 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 116 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 103 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say