Ireland’s 100-Year Secret: What the 1926 Census Finally Reveals

In this episode of the Irish History Boys, we anticipate the historic release of the 1926 Census, a "huge treasure trove of information" becoming available for the first time under the hundred-year rule. We reflect on its immense value for social historians and those tracing family trees, offering a unique "color to that story" of Irish life following a decade of unprecedented upheaval between 1911 and 1926.

We examine the 1926 Census as the first taken in a post-partition Ireland and discuss the "awful shame" of the lost Northern records, which were destroyed in the Second World War during the Belfast Blitz. We also explore the dramatic decline of the Protestant population in the South during this period, debating whether this shift was due to "ethnic cleansing," the natural withdrawal of British forces, or the general "upheaval of the War of Independence and the Civil War".

Additionally, we delve into the complex legacy of Seán Lemass, the "pragmatic" Taoiseach often considered the architect of modern Ireland. We trace his extraordinary path from a teenage rebel in the GPO to the founding of Fianna Fáil and his role in dragging the state out of isolationism toward EEC membership. This journey is framed by the profound personal tragedies that shaped him, including the accidental shooting of one brother and the brutal 1923 abduction and murder of another, Noel, by a Free State "murder gang".

To conclude, we reflect on the 1976 commemorations of the Easter Rising at Milltown Cemetery, examining the "long war" rhetoric of the Provisional IRA and the "hollow" promises of being on the "threshold of victory". Finally, we attempt to settle the lighthearted "Snowballgate" debate: was it Seán Lemass or his successor, Jack Lynch, who was targeted by Ian Paisley’s snowballs during the high-stakes cross-border meetings of the 1960s?

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