Of the Roughneens whose literacy was recorded, 79.4% could both read and write, 4.4% could read but not write, and 16.2% could do neither. Men came out slightly ahead, 86.1% reading and writing against 71.9% of women. Bear in mind these figures include young children; the census itself only counted people aged nine and over when calculating illiteracy, on the grounds that it was unfair to label a child illiterate before they'd had a chance to learn.