From grief to paw prints, people share Ireland census ‘time capsule’ messages

Some were funny, some were angry, some were utterly heartbreaking and all were written in the same blank space of Ireland’s census form, a “time capsule” section.

In what Ireland’s Central Statistics Office says is a world first, the official census left a blank space for people to leave messages for future generations. The voluntary section of the 27-page form is to be made public in 100 years but many people have shared their messages on social media.

“€6.80 for a pint of Heineken the other night. Hope that has improved,” said one. Another wrote lottery numbers and a request for posterity to check if they ever won. Áine Flynn imprinted the pawprints of her dog Darcy, a shih tzu Maltese cross.

Niamh Ní Charra wrote a piece of music.

Others sketched cartoons. One man claimed to have written an invisible message in lemon juice, along with a challenge: “Let’s see if they’re as smart, a 100 years from now, as they think they are.”

Some posed questions. “Have they started building the Dublin metro yet?” Others seized the opportunity to assail Ireland’s ruling parties. “I hope that 100 years from now you are all not still voting for Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. If you are, you are all gobshites.”

Other messages spoke of suffering and grief. A mother who sacrificed her career to care for a disabled son hoped disability services would be better a century hence.

Amy Wall, 38, touched a chord with a tribute to a daughter killed in a car crash five years ago, just before her fourth birthday. “Estlin was our first born child and the love of our lives. She was never counted in a census and so we are so relieved to be able to mention her here. She was beautiful, creative, funny, so smart and clever and confident beyond her years. We were honoured to be her parents and honoured still to grieve her for the rest of our lives,” Wall wrote.

Wall’s tweet about the message has been liked and retweeted more than 40,000 times. “It’s just blown me away to see how it connected with people,” she said on Wednesday. “I’ve been getting comments from the UK, Canada, Australia wishing their own census gave this opportunity.”