The census of Ireland is held on a quinquennial basis by the
Central Statistics Office to determine the population of the
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...
. The most recent census was
held in 2022.
Dates of census
* Sunday, 18 April 1926
* Sunday, 26 April 1936
* Sunday, 12 May 1946
* Sunday, 8 April 1951
* Sunday, 8 April 1956
* Sunday, 9 April 1961
* Sunday, 17 April 1966
* Sunday, 18 April 1971
* Sunday, 1 April 1979
* Sunday, 5 April 1981
* Sunday, 13 April 1986
* Sunday, 21 April 1991
* Sunday, 28 April 1996
* Sunday, 28 April 2002
* Sunday, 23 April 2006
* Sunday, 10 April 2011
* Sunday, 24 April 2016
* Sunday, 3 April 2022
Political geography
Under Article 16 of the
Constitution of Ireland
The Constitution of Ireland ( ga, Bunreacht na hÉireann, ) is the constitution, fundamental law of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It asserts the national sovereignty of the Irish people. The constitution, based on a system of representative democra ...
, revisions of
Dáil constituencies
There are 39 multi-member electoral districts, known as Dáil constituencies, that elect 160 TDs (members of parliament), to Dáil Éireann, Ireland's lower house of the Oireachtas, or parliament, by means of the single transferable vote, ...
by the
Oireachtas
The Oireachtas (, ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of:
*The President of Ireland
*The bicameralism, two houses of the Oireachtas ...
are required at a minimum every 12 years. However, they must also have due regard to changes in the population. Under the
Electoral Reform Act 2022, the
Electoral Commission
An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...
is required to conduct a review of constituency boundaries after every census. From 1997 up to the establishment of the Electoral Commission in 2023, this function was carried out by a
Constituency Commission
The Constituency Commission ( ga, An Coimisiún um Thoghlaigh) is an independent commission in Ireland which advises on redrawing of constituency boundaries of Dáil constituencies for the election of members to Dáil Éireann (the lower house ...
created for this function.
Urban geography
From 1971 to 2006, census towns were "defined as a cluster of 50 or more occupied dwellings where, within a radius of 800 metres, there was a nucleus of 30 occupied dwellings". From 2016, a new census settlement was defined "as a minimum of 50 occupied dwellings, with a maximum distance between any dwelling and the building closest to it of 100 metres, accompanied by evidence of an urban centre". For the
2022 census, the CSO developed a new urban geography term the Built Up Area (BUA) to define urban areas.
References
External links
Census page on the CSO website
{{Ireland-geo-stub