The 100 rule first came in with the Act of Parliament authorising the British 1921 census. It was retrospectively imposed on the earlier censuses by the archivists etc, but the retrospective imposition was not the result of an Act of Parliament. It was for this reason that the Freedom of Information Commissioner granted access to the 1911 census for England and Wales prior to January 2012 when Guy Etchells challenged the the 100 year rule being used in respect of it. The newly devolved Scottish Parliament had enacted legislation to retrospectively impose the 100 rule on the Scottish 1911 census, and so it wasn’t until January 2012 that it became available. The Irish 1901 and 1911 Censuses never had a 100 year rule apply to them under the Acts of Parliament authorising them, and of course, it wasn’t retrospectively imposed on them by government departments based in London. With the advent of the internet and companies like Find My Past which have a contract with the Archives, the transcription and indexing have been done ahead of their release so that they could go on-line from day one (and start earning money for the archives!). David Armstrong Maylands Western Australia From: mailto:[email protected] Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2016 9:45 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: FERMANAGH-GOLD The next census will take place on Sunday April24th, 2016. No, I think the NI one was delayed too from what I understand. From talking to people it was quite a violent affair, with the police and army being used!! I think they were both done at the same time to prevent people from crossing the border to avoid it. The problem is the 100year rule which means they wont publish census returns until 100year after the date of the census. Once they are released, it takes a considerable time to transcript them. If that’s the case we wont be allowed access to the 1926 returns until 2026. Because the 1911 returns where stored in Dublin they are under Irish control and the 100year rule was temporary suspended to allow early release of the records. Clive --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus