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Will I get in trouble if I don’t bother filling it out?
There’s a decent chance you will, yes.
You’re obligated by law to fill out the form and failure to do so can lead to a fine of up to €44,440.
The CSO says that most people who didn’t fill it out on time in 2011 had simply forgotten and that letters reminding them of their legal obligation did the trick.
Further legal steps can be required for others who refuse to participate. In 2011, there were five successful prosecutions of people who refused to answer the 35-question survey.
Why can’t we fill out the census online?
If your first response is, ‘because it’s the census, you fill it out and hand it back’, then you’ll have a surprise in five years time.
The CSO says that it is planned that the next census will give people the option to input their details online.
The idea was considered for this year but it wasn’t deemed possible this time around.
Watch this space.
Can I fill out the census in a different language?
The census forms delivered around the country note that they can be completed in English or in Irish, but the CSO offers translation services in 20 other languages.
Questions 14 and 15 ask directly about language usage, the former about proficiency in Irish and the latter about the usage of other foreign languages.
The last census recorded that 509,848 people speak a language other than Irish or English at home.
How is your health in general?
Eh, I’m grand. I think?
Seriously though, it may seem difficult and almost a little trivial to sum up the state of your health by ticking a box, but it’s an important question.
The questions was asked for the first time five years ago and the CSO says it’s important because it shows how people’s health relates to various factors like their age, profession and education.
Crashing on a couch
If I went out Saturday night and I’m still not home by Sunday evening am I supposed to fill out the census in some randomers house?
Technically, yes, if you’re sleeping over on the Sunday night too.
The census doesn’t want to double-count people so to stop that happening the rule is that you’re included in the house you’re staying in on Sunday.
The census asks you where you usually live, so don’t worry, the State won’t mark you as a Kerryman if you’re if a Corkman in Tralee for the evening.
Questions like ‘what is your current marital status?’ might make for some awkward moments if you’re staying over somewhere you shouldn’t be on Sunday, but apart from that you’re grand.
Are the questions the same as last time?
Yes, they’re all the same except for one small but important alteration.
The answers for ‘What is your marital status?’ have been reworded to take into account civil partnerships and the recognition of same-sex marriages.
There are still seven answers to the question, but the answers are different.
No home, no census?
If the census is based on where you’re staying on Sunday night, does that mean homeless people aren’t counted at all?
No it doesn’t.
The census collects details of people staying in emergency accommodation across the country as well as people in hostels and rough sleepers.
Homeless persons are identified based on where they were on census night rather than by self-identification.
In 2011, 3,744 people were identified as sleeping rough or in homeless accommodation with the CSO itself saying that homelessness has become a bigger issue this time around.
What is your religion?
More than any other topic, this census question has provoked more discussion this year than any other on the form.
Some people argue that the question itself is leading because it presumes someone has a religion. Others just say that it’s unclear because many people are conflicted about their own beliefs.
Summing up your beliefs is not easy, so the advice from CSO and both pro- and anti- religious groups is to answer based on how you feel.
How many forms have been sent out?
Two million census forms have been delivered to houses around the country.
Each form contains 12 A4 pages with the CSO saying that if all of the forms were laid side by side they would cover the area of 476 football pitches.
Laid end to end, they would stretch along one third of the circumference of the Earth.
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Wow… who’d have thought charging c.400% tax on a product would incentivise a black economy in that product?
It was always going to happen with the continued increases in tax. Tax needs to be reduced but that wont happen so this will just get worse. Average levy on cigarettes in EU is 3.50. We charged 8 per box of 20. That’s just mental.
@John Duggan: The tax is because of health issues. If you didn’t know smoking is bad and ends up costing the state who have to provide public health care ..
@Alan Kenny: all in taxes and levies are more than €11 on an average €14 box of cigarettes. It’s not just mental, it’s egregious.
@Gavin Lynam: Do you have some figures on what smokers cost the health system, versus what they generate in taxes?
@Gavin Lynam: Obesity causes issues too, so maybe a 400% tax on all take away foods and restaurants then ? Like the way the sugar tax fixed so much.
@Gavin Lynam: i am pretty sure that you believe in fairies and dragons as well.
@Da Dell: And a tax on frozen food/pizzas in supermarkets and any product that contains any trace of unhealthiness. Also put a health levy on driving cause people are too lazy to walk which is costing the taxpayer in health costs.
So much for personal responsibility and personal freedom. These taxes do very little to improve peoples’ health. Irish people constantly think in terms of how much money they could generate but aren’t thinking about the education aspect. Education is the key to everything but we aren’t too fond of that here, clinging on to our traditional leaving cert and not teaching many real world skills or education.
@JusticeForJoe: Money isn’t the issue
@Larsen Cib: Still haven’t grown out of your superhero faze I see ..
@JusticeForJoe: smokers cost the state around 300 million more than they contribute in taxes every year.
@Alan Kenny: an the same will happen with wine an beer ,.
@Fakë Ăvatăř: do you have a source for that?
@Ian Kerrigan.: I compiled the data as part of a project about two years ago, the figure ranges between 3 to 4 hundred million a year going from 2010 to 2018, long and short of it is smoking is a drain on economy.
@Fakë Ăvatăř: utter b0ll0x
@Fakë Ăvatăř: that’s interesting because it’s been reported that smokers give over 30 million beyond what they cost the exchequer. So unless you can provide evidence I’m not going to believe you over economists on the matt Cooper show.
@Fakë Ăvatăř: During that period smokers contributed on average 1,200M each year in combined excise duties and tax. In other words, they paid for all of their own health costs and gave a further €800M for the health of others.
(Figures supplies by the Revenue Commissioners).
Nobody should be suprised… Tax anything that much and its basically an open invite to criminals in the black market…There is other ways but the tories we have in charge aren’t capable of thinking outside the box
Legalise and regulate. If it was legal there’d be none of these criminal enterprises. Oh wait…
@Mattress Dick: Unfortunately the biggest gangsters in the country are the ones regulating this industry, the main crime here is the tax is circa 80% of the purchase price.
@Mattress Dick: Yes you right, better to leave as is, as its easy to get and cheap plus added bonus of having access to nearly all ‘drugs’ from same source. If the Gov got involved they would just make a balls of it.
@Mark Malone: pretty much this.
@Mattress Dick: there you are again. Great support for the cause of legalisation. Dick says legal is better.
Pretending that the tax is for the health system is a joke. Today’s children are much better educated about the dangers and yet during the pandemic there has been an increase of young people smoking
@Ian James Burgess: unfortunately naive , not far thinking people do believe in these fairy tales.
The profits from tobacco smuggling are on par with those from drugs, but the penalties for getting caught are a laugh. Basically a smack on the back of the hand.
Why don’t they follow these drug finds back to make mass arrests. Seizing stuff at the ports is lazy and unimaginative.
They haven’t gone away, you know.
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