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PEOPLE ACROSS THE country will be filling out the census form tonight and for the first time, it will include an optional ‘time capsule section’.
The forms will be collected by an enumerator before 6 May. Everyone present in Ireland tonight must be included on a census form.
Last year was supposed to be a census year (they happen every five years), but it was delayed because of the Covid pandemic.
Several new questions have been added to this year’s census following a consultation process held in late 2017 inviting views on changes to the form.
Among the new questions to be included are how many working smoke alarms are in your accommodation, and what type of internet connection does your household have.
Another new question asks people what time they usually leave work, school, college or childcare, while another asks people if they engage in any sort of voluntary work.
Other questions relate to working from home, tobacco use and access to childcare.
For the first time, the census form will also include an optional ‘time capsule’ section, which will give each household the opportunity to write a message to future generations.
The messages will be stored along with the census forms for the next 100 years before being released to the public in 2122.
So we want to hear from you – what (if anything) will you write in the time capsule section?
Let us know in the comments below.
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I’ll write about my son who was stillborn due to medical negligence. Although he is registered on the stillbirth register, this is closed and so once myself and my husband die, all trace of him is sealed. Not even his sisters can access this record. This time capsule will allow future generations to know my son existed and mattered. #saytheirname #mychildexisted
@Paula Doyle: That’s heartbreaking Paula. I’m so sorry for you and your family’s tragic loss.
Why is this not online? The cost of this thing is insane and a waste of resources. Delivering them, inputting to a system, then they have to be scanned as evidence…..
@Keith Richardson: The next census will be online
@Keith Richardson: Buzz Killington has spoken.
@Keith Richardson: Online just doesn’t suit everyone for all the reasons highlighted during the pandemic. I’m sure my elderly parents who are over 80 wouldn’t do it online but 100% sure they will do it in writing.
Online will come but our population and the infrastructure is not there yet.
@Bo bo: should be an option. My parents are over 70 and it’d be easier for them online. Save the cost of 5000 doorbell ringers…..
@Keith Richardson:
The Australians tried the online census a few years ago and it was an absolute disaster. Not as easy as it sounds.
@Greg Ward: I don’t think he did speak, not really. Speech normally comes out the other end…
@Keith Richardson: this being online there’s a chance someone may still be able to read it in a 100 years.. that a digital database may survive more than 100 years is very unlikely and even if we figured out the technology side we would realize at some point the energy impact of maintaining century old documents on computer archives
@Massimiliano Gallo: I meant NOT being online :-)
@Keith Richardson: well, I for one, don’t own a computer, laptop or tablet. I don’t fancy doing it on a phone…
Not everyone has a computer.
However, I do agree that if someone has the means of filling it in online and is happy to do so, they should be given the opportunity to do so. For people like myself, without the means, the paper forms should still be available though.
That’s my personal opinion though. Other people may have other opinions on the subject.
Will be writing down coordinates and telling them to dig here.
That will keep someone amused in the future.
I reckon ,with the way spelling is going nowadays ,that they won’t be able to read whatever we write!
@Donie Keyes: if we can make out ancient languages that are no longer in use I’m sure a few spelling mistakes be easy try understanding the different accents in the English language that be harder
@Donie Keyes: dat is funny lol. U r right. Dey will find it hard.
@Donie Keyes: your right their
Sorry. After thinking about what the world will be like in 100 years time it struck me that my 1 year old will likely not have children as in 30 to 40 years time the effects of climate change will be clear and obvious. It’ll make make the Ukrainian humanitarian crisis look like a picnic. So I guess we will be the last generation to bear children on a large scale as whom would bring kids into a world of famine? And it follows that we will be the first generation not to know what it’s like to have grandchildren. So like a dying smoker who ignored the science and doctors warnings or simply wished they were wrong for the past 30 years and now is preparing for what’s on the other side, regretting they won’t see their children or grandchildren grow up, I’ll put in the time capsule “Sorry we didn’t do enough” in the expectation that someone may read it but where there’s only food for 1 in 1000 persons it likely won’t be anyone related to me as the line will cease to exist. Sorry we didn’t do more when we could.
@Ronan Cahill: such rubbish, there were whole generations after both world wars who didn’t have children. The entire world population was almost wiped out during the bubonic plagues of the 12th and 13th centuries. Humans will survive unless there is a sudden unexpected event to wipe us out in one go.
@Ronan Cahill: Nah, Africans and Middle Easterns are having bucket loads. Might be the last generations of Irish people on the face of the Earth though
@Ronan Cahill: Bet you’re fun at parties Ro?
Have kildare won an all ireland yet?
A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.
It’s true , people made a living as “influencers” Google it… if Google is still a thing !!
Is there still a toll on the m50?
Have mayo won an all Ireland yet?
I’m a genealogist so I can tell you what it’s hardest to uncover about people in the past: their interests, hobbies, likes and dislikes, who their friends were, sexual orientation. For single people, it’s harder to match them up with their families but this should be easier with precise dates of birth. If you have more than one job, you could detail the additional work. If you’ve changed your name from what it was at birth, write that in. I’m writing the names and dates of my 8 great-grandparents (I appreciate not everyone knows this offhand), some additional details about my education – i.e. what subjects I studied at college, a list of my favourite things and my closest friends.
Nothing . Who will care in 100 years time what we thought now? What are they planning to do next census and every one after this, more gimmicks ??
@Margaret Henry: this is your letter to your great-grandchildren’s generation.
Give them an insight into your life this year-the effects of the Ukrainian invasion on your home (rising costs) or keep it light are you going on holidays anywhere? Or what are YOUR fears for the future, and where to find the REAL capsule you’ve hidden in your house.
That’s going to be the fun part for us!
I think I’ll write that the dog we have is awesome, the cat is an a$$hole and a little about what life is like. Maybe some life advice like, “Never eat more than you can lift”.
Some amount of moaners on this site, if you don’t want to fill in the section and leave a message for your great gran kids then don’t. I wouldn’t mind reading a comment my great grandparents left me 100 years ago.
This needs some thought put into it. A chance to communicate with future generations from the grave. Some kind words for the future grand kids and great grand kids should they come looking. Maybe a riddle that leads to something buried, something to get the kids off their PlayStation and out of the house
I wish I was there instead of here
Nothing.
@Jane Alford: I’m with you there
“Hope we solved climate change”
Don’t let the b@stards grind you down!
Big beats are best, get high all the time!
@Jeremiah A Craic: Who is this, is this us?
That I planted two horse chestnut tree today. Hopefully they will be there in 100 years
I will be describing how treacherous, pressganging, lying, two faced, law breaking, our cover-up governments have been right up the present day.
@Jeff Rudd: Do you think things are going to be any different in 100 years time? I doubt it.
@FrustratedASDMum: Of course things will be different in 100 years from now – the Children’s Hospital and Metro North will be nearly finished by then.
@Jeff Rudd: zzzzzzzzzzzxxxxxx
All I’m going to write is ” your mind can make a heavan out of hell or a hell out of Heaven” Surely in year’s to come who ever bothers to read it , twill still make Census
I’m sticking in the family tree, as much as I can fit. Might be of interest in 100yrs like the 1921 census was for us.
Nothing because I never got the census form
I will ask did Mayo win the All Ireland yet
My elderly neighbour has lost his,does anyone have any idea how to get a replacement?
@Sommer Church: Contact the CSO for a replacement or wait until the enumerator comes around to collect. They will have replacements with them for these situations.
@David Ryan: thank you. He was starting to panic.
@Sommer Church: Enumerator will simply replace it on collection and all back.
People should give an account of their lives and the way they live and are been treated by the government of the day .Pensioners are been robbed and left to die with the cold and hungry wat they are been treated .
Let the thing in, will ye…..
Is anybody there? Seems pointless.
In a hotel and visitors census form has no TIME CAPSULE.
I apologised for us messing up the planet.
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