THE CENTRAL STATISTICS Office (CSO) has said it has alerted An Garda Síochána and the National Archive to the publication of an extract from the 1926 Census on social media.

Publishing extracts from the 1926 Census is in “breach of legislation and strictly prohibited”, it said, urging people not to share the documents.

In a statement this afternoon, the CSO said that all Census returns from 1926 onwards are closed to the public for 100 years in accordance with Section 35 of the Statistics Act 1993.

Under the 100-year rule, the details of the 1926 Census won’t be released until January 2027.

However, the CSO said that extracts of this Census had been posted on social media and has asked for it to be taken down and not shared further.

It said today: “All Census returns from 1926 onwards are closed to the public for 100 years in accordance with Section 35 of the Statistics Act, 1993.

“Therefore the CSO wishes to advise the general public and the media that the publication of the 1926 Census is in breach of this legislation and strictly prohibited, and could lead to possible sanction under Section 38 of that Act, pursuant to Section 7(3) of the Act.”

The CSO also said that unauthorised disclosure of personal data is also an offence under Chapter 7 of the Data Protection Act 2018, Section 145.

It’s understood the CSO has made contact with the individual who posted the material who has agreed to remove it from social media.

Some details of the 1926 Census are available online from the CSO. 

This Census was the first taken by the newly established Irish Free State. 

The Census that was due to take place next year has been delayed until 2022 due to the pandemic.