March 3, 2006
Jewish leaders in Ireland have expressed concern that the upcoming population census may not accurately record the growing number of Jews living in the country. While there has been a noticeable influx of Jews since the last census in 2002, they say that the lack of a separate "Jewish" box under the census form's question concerning religious affiliation could mean that some of the newcomers remain statistically invisible. Jews – and anyone who is not Catholic, Church of Ireland, Methodist, Presbyterian or Muslim – will have to write in their religion under "other", meaning that secular or unaffiliated Jews could go unrecorded. Carl Nelkin, vice chairman of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland, told the 'Irish Times' that the community expected to have a separate category for 'Jewish' citizens.
The 2002 census had recorded a small increase in the Jewish population – currently at 1,790 – for the first time since 1946. In the last four years more Jews have arrived from Israel, South Africa, North America, Australia and eastern Europe. The largest constituency of new Jewish arrivals came from Israel. Chief Rabbi Yaakov Pearlman estimated the total Jewish population at 2,000, but only about a quarter of that number would be known to the main Orthodox congregation in Dublin, he said.