1.8 Definition of a private household

A private household comprises either one person living alone or a group of people (not necessarily related) living at the same address with common housekeeping arrangements - that is, sharing at least one meal a day or sharing a living room or sitting room.

In the rare case where a dwelling houses more than one private household, each individual household within the dwelling should be assigned a separate unique identifying dwelling number, or D.No. See section 2.13 for more details.

Examples of private households

[The original document includes a table below.]

[Column headings:]
(A) Private household example
(B) No. of separate households
(C) Notes

Private household example: A person living alone.
No. of separate households: One household.
Notes: If the person is absent from the dwelling on Census Night, a form E must be completed (see section 4.2).

Private household example: A single parent living together with his/her children. All present on Census Night.
No. of separate households: One household.
Notes: All household members present on Census Night should be entered on list 1, page 3 of the household form.

Private household example: A single parent living together with his/her children. All present on Census Night.
No. of separate households: One household.
Notes: All household members present on Census Night should be entered on list 1, page 3 of the household form.

Private household example: A husband and wife (or couple) living together with their children.
No. of separate households: One household.
Notes: All household members present on Census Night should be entered on list 1, page 3 of the household form.

[p. 11]

Private household example: A husband and wife (or couple) living together with their children. The household has an Italian student on an exchange program staying with them on Census Night. Their daughter is on an exchange in Cortina staying with the Italian student's family on Census Night.
No. of separate households: One household.
Notes: Only household members actually present on Census Night should be listed on List 1, page 3 of the household form. The Italian student should also be entered on List 1 as she is present in the household on Census Night. The daughter away in Cortina should be entered on list 2, page 3 of the household form as she is absent from the household on Census Night.

Private household example: A husband and wife (or couple) living with their married daughter and her husband and child.
No. of separate households: One household.
Notes: All household members present on Census Night should be entered on list 1, page 3 of the household form.

Private household example: Four nurses who are unrelated. All share a living room, but only three of the nurses usually take at least one meal a day together.
No. of separate households: One household. They all share a living room.
Notes: All the nurses are included on the same household form.

Private household example: D.No. 10 is a 3 story house converted into flats. Your ERB and map has only one address and D.No. listed. Each flat has its own hall door off the ground floor and first and second floor landings. Each flat is occupied by students. Each flat has its own common housekeeping arrangements.
No. of separate households: Three dwellings. Three households.
Notes: The ground floor flat should be assigned D.No. 10. The first floor flat is unlisted. It should be assigned the next available unique D.No. starting at 9001. The second floor flat is also unlisted. It should be assigned the next available D.No. e.g. 9002. The newly assigned D.Nos should be marked on the map beside D.No. 10 and an entry created in your ERB for each of the unique D.Nos generated. Try to clarify, where possible, if the three households have unique eircodes or whether they share the eircode of the originally listed dwelling.

Private household example: At D.No. 12 (a 3 bedroom apartment with one entrance) there are three students. The accommodation does not contain a living room. Two of the students usually take at least one meal a day together. The other student eats his/her meals separately.
No. of separate households: Two households sharing one dwelling. The two students who take at least one meal together would count as one household. The other student constitutes a separate household.
Notes: The two students who usually share a meal each day should be issued with one Household Form assigned D.No. 12. The other student gets his/her own Household Form. There are 2 households. The second household is unlisted. It will be assigned a new D.No. (assigned the next available D.No. in the 9001+ range). See section 2.13. The second household should have the same eircode as the first household in this instance.

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Private household example: A separated couple is living at D.No. 415 (a three bedroom semi). The separated husband lives upstairs and has separate housekeeping arrangements i.e. he cooks for himself and does not use the living room down stairs.
No. of separate households: Two households within one dwelling.
Notes: The husband and wife should both get separate Household Forms. One form should be assigned D.No. 415 and the other should be assigned the next available D.No. in the 9001+ range. Both households should have the same eircode as originally listed in the ERB.

1.9 Communal establishments (CEs) or non-private households

A communal establishment is defined as an establishment providing managed residential accommodation. Managed means full-time or part-time supervision of the accommodation.

In most cases (for example, prisons, large hospitals, hotels) communal establishments can be easily identified. However boarding houses1 with less than five boarders on Census Night should be treated as private households. Boarding houses with less than five borders should complete a household form and should include the manager and his/her family if they are on the premises that night. Larger boarding houses should be enumerated as communal establishments.

The following are examples of communal establishments or non-private households.

Footnote: A boarding house is an establishment run for profit, which provides board (full or partial) and lodging for permanent or semi-permanent residents e.g. persons working away from home or university students during term time. Guest houses / B and Bs on the other hand cater for transient persons.

In the case of student residences where the accommodation is split into self-contained units accommodating 2-6 students, each self-contained unit should receive a household form.

1.10 Enumeration of communal establishments