An Act for taking the Census of Ireland.
[18 August 1890]
53 & 54 Vict. c.46
| Whereas it is expedient to take the census of Ireland in the
year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-one: Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: | |
| Census of population to be taken. | 1. A census of the population of Ireland shall be taken in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-one in the manner herein-after directed, and the census day shall be Sunday the fifth day of April in that year. |
| By whom the census shall be taken. | 2. Such officers and men of the police force of Dublin metropolis, and of the Royal Irish Constabulary, as the Lord Lieutenant shall direct, together with such other competent persons as the Lord Lieutenant shall appoint to assist therein, shall, upon the Monday following the census day, and such one or more next consecutive days as the said Lord Lieutenant shall fix, severally visit every house within such districts as may be assigned to them respectively, between the hours of half-past eight in the forenoon and six in the afternoon, and take an account in writing, according to such instructions as may be given to them by the chief or under secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of the number of persons who abode therein on the night of the census day, and of the sex, age, religious profession, birthplace, and occupation of all such persons; and shall also take an account of the number of inhabited houses and of uninhabited houses and of houses then building within such districts respectively; and shall also distinguish those parishes and places, or parts of parishes and places, within each district respectively, which are within the limits of any parliamentary borough; and shall also take an account of all such further particulars as by such instructions they may be directed to inquire into; and all the expenses which shall be incurred by authority of the Lord Lieutenant under this Act, subject to the sanction of the Treasury, shall be paid out of such moneys as shall be provided by Parliament for that purpose. |
| Masters, &c. of gaols, &c. to be appointed enumerators of the inmates thereof. | 3. The governor, master, or keeper of every gaol, prison, or house of correction, workhouse, hospital, or lunatic asylum, and every barrack master, and every master or keeper of every public or charitable institution which shall be determined upon by the Lord Lieutenant, shall act as the enumerator of the inmates thereof, and shall be bound to conform to such instructions as shall be sent to him by the authority of the Lord Lieutenant for obtaining the returns required by this Act, so far as may be practicable, with respect to such inmates, but the initial letters only of the Christian names and surnames of such inmates shall be stated in any such return. |
| Forms, &c. to be furnished for their use. 43 & 44 Vict. c.84. |
4. (1.) For the more effectual obtaining of such accounts, the
chief or under secretary to the Lord Lieutenant shall prepare and
cause to be printed such forms and instructions for the use of the
several persons who shall be appointed as aforesaid to take or
certify the said accounts as he shall deem necessary. (2.) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the census shall be taken by means of, and in the manner prescribed by, the several forms and instructions which were issued under the authority of the Act of the session of the forty-third and forty-fourth years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter twenty-eight, and which are contained in the Appendix to the General Report of the Commissioners appointed under t1at Act, dated the twenty-first day of September, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-two, and presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty, and such matters and particulars as were contained in and prescribed by the said forms and instructions, and no other matters or particulars shall be inserted in the forms and instructions to be prepared under the authority of this Act, and no question shall be put for the purpose of obtaining information other than the information required by such forms and instructions. |
| Power to make the inquiry. | 5. The better to enable such persons to take the said accounts they are hereby authorised and empowered to ask all such questions of all persons within their respective districts, respecting themselves or the persons constituting their respective families, and of all such further particulars as shall be necessary for the purpose of taking the said accounts. |
| Penalty for refusing to answer, or for giving false answers. | 6. Every person refusing to allow such question to be put or to answer or wilfully giving a false answer to such questions or any of them, shall for every such refusal, or false answer, be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds: Provided always, that no person shall be subject to any such penalty for refusing to state his religious profession. |
| Penalty on persons employed if guilty of wilful default or neglect. | 7. Every member of the said police force or of the Royal Irish Constabulary, or other person, who shall be so appointed to take the said accounts, or to assist therein, who shall make any wilful neglect, default, or falsification in any matter relating to the said accounts, or who shall make any communication or disclosure of any information obtained by him in taking the said accounts for any other object than that of rendering the census as complete as possible, shall for every such neglect, default, or falsification, or communication or disclosure, be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds. |
| Proceedings how to be taken, and penalties recovered and applied. 14 & 15 Vict. c.93 21 & 22 Vict. c.100. Application of penalties imposed. |
8. All proceedings under this Act, as to compelling the appearance of any such member of the said police force or of the Royal Irish Constabulary force, or other person, against whom any complaint under this Act shall have been made, or of any witness, and as to the hearing and determination of such complaints, and as to the making and executing of any orders or as to any other matter relating thereto, and as to the application of fines, amerciaments, and forfeited recognisances, imposed or levied under the provisions of this Act, shall be subject in all respects to the provisions of the Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act, 1851, as the same is amended by the Petty Sessions Clerk (Ireland) Act, 1858, when the case shall he heard in any petty sessions district, and to the provisions of the Acts relating to the divisional police offices when the case shall be heard in the police district of Dublin metropolis, so far as the said provisions shall be consistent with any special provisions of this Act; and when any penalty is imposed at any of the divisional police offices of Dublin metropolis under the provisions of this Act, such penalty shall be paid over to the same purposes, and appropriated and applied in the same manner as is now by law authorised in respect of penalties imposed at such divisional police offices respectively. |
| The persons taking the accounts to certify and affirm them as to their correctness, and deliver them to the officer appointed to receive them. Such officer to transmit them to the office of the Chief Secretary. An abstract to be laid before Parliament. |
9. The said several persons so appointed to take the said accounts, or to assist therein, shall sign and certify the same, and make solemn affirmation before any justice of the peace within the county, to the effect that the said account has been truly and faithfully taken by him (or them), and that, to the best of his (or their) knowledge, the same is correct, so far as may be known, and shall deliver the same to such officer of the said police force, or of the Royal Irish Constabulary, or other person, as may be appointed by the Lord Lieutenant to receive the same, within each county, city, town, or place; and such officer or person shall examine the same, and cause any defect or inaccuracy which may be discovered therein to be supplied or corrected, so far as may be possible, and shall certify and transmit the same to the General Register Office, in such manner and within such time as the Lord Lieutenant shall direct, and the same shall be digested and reduced into order under the direction of the chief or under secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, by the Registrar General of Births and Deaths in Ireland, and by such other person or persons as the Lord Lieutenant shall appoint for that purpose; and an abstract thereof shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament within twelve months after the day on which the said account shall be taken, or (if Parliament be not then sitting) within the first fourteen days of the session next ensuing. |
| Provision as to houseless persons. | 10. The Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant shall obtain, by such means as shall appear to him best adapted for the purpose, returns of the particulars required by this Act with respect to all houseless persons, and all persons who during the night of the census day were travelling or on shipboard, or for any other reason were not abiding in any house of which account is to be taken by the appointed persons, and shall cause such returns to be included in the abstract to be laid before Parliament |
| Certificate of population. | 11. A certificate from the General Register Office, purporting to be signed by the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages in Ireland, shall be admitted in any court of law as evidence of the population, at the last census, of any county, city, town, or other area in Ireland to which it refers, and the said Registrar-General shall be bound, if possible, to deliver such certificate to any person on payment of a fee of one shilling. |
| Recovery of penalties. | 12. Penalties imposed by this Act shall be recovered in manner provided by the Summary Jurisdiction (Ireland) Acts. |
| Punishment of persons wilfully making false affirmation or declaration. | 13. Every solemn affirmation or declaration made or signed under the authority of this Act shall be of the same force and effect as if the person making such affirmation or declaration had taken an oath in the usual form, and if any person making such affirmation or declaration shall wilfully, falsely, and corruptly affirm or declare any matter or thing which, if deposed on oath, would have amounted to wilful and corrupt perjury, he shall be liable to prosecution, indictment, sentence, and punishment in all respects as if he had committed wilful and corrupt perjury. |
| Short title. | 14. This Act may be cited as the Census (Ireland) Act, 1890. |