1926 Census: "The language that’s used to describe people speaks to a conservative, moralistic, Catholic, patriarchal society"

The recent release of the Ireland 1926 Census offers a snapshot of a newly formed state finding its shape in the aftermath of war and revolution. Exactly a century on, these records do more than document a population – they invite us to encounter the texture of ordinary lives at an extraordinary point in Irish history. Director of the National Archives, Orlaith McBride, tells Will Russell why they’re such a historian’s dream.