Come To Your Census: The Podcast

This episode delves into the 1926 Census to explore the stories behind some of Dublin’s earliest public housing projects. In it, Liz Gillis is joined by local historians Maria O’Reilly and Eamonn Delaney, both with personal family connections to some of these schemes.From The Tenters in Dublin 8, an ambitious 1922 development on the edge of the Liberties, to the visionary Marino estate on the northside, we look at some of the first residents there through their census entries and discover how these new communities offered stability in a city facing increased housing pressure. This episode also examines British built housing provided to Irish First World War veterans, even after the formation of the Free State and discusses the widows they left behind them.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Dr. Cormac Moore joins Liz Gillis to explore what the 1926 Census reveals about the Protestant population in Ireland’s border counties. While the data points to an overall decline, Liz and Cormac look at how that trend was notably bucked in Drum, Co. Monaghan, where the Protestant population grew, and in Pettigo, Co. Donegal, a town newly divided by the border. Here, demographic shifts reshaped the town centre as its Catholic population increased. Together they examine the local impact of partition, the work of the Boundary Commission, and how national decisions were felt in the everyday lives of border communities.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

By the time the 1926 Census was taken, Ireland had endured fifteen turbulent years thatreshaped the nation, from the 1916 Rising to the War of Independence and Civil War. In this episode, Liz Gillis speaks with Greg Walls, a historian and PhD candidate from Trinity College Dublin, to uncover where some of the revolution’s most recognisable figures found themselves after the creation of the Irish Free State. From Eamon de Valera and Kevin O’Higgins to Constance Markievicz, we explore how these Pro and Anti-Treaty leaders were living in 1926, the conditions they returned to, and how the census itself became, for some, a subtle act of protest. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.