Archive for October, 2007

Lithuanians Like Oldcastle Co Meath

Oldcastle in County Meath  has 17.78% of its population born in Lithuania – that is the highest percentage in Ireland. The next nearest town that is popular with Lithuanians is  Ballybay in Monaghan – which has 9.92% of residents born in Lithuania.
County Monaghan towns are very  popular with Lithuanians -  Carrickmacross , Monaghan and Clones all have around  5 to 6% Lituanian born living there.
The figures are from the 2006 Census of Ireland.

Top 20 Ethnically Diverse Towns

Ethnic Diversity in Ireland:
Immigration in Ireland has grown in the past decade – and the 2006 census provided figures on ethnic origins of residents. Ireland also has it’s own ethnic group – the Travellers and this category was included in the 2006 census for the first time.

These are the  20 towns with the highest percentage of non “White Irish” in Ireland (This includes “Other”, “Traveller”, “Black”, “Black Irish”, “Asian”, “Asian Irish” and “Other White”

Ballyhaunis, Mayo (45.93%)
Gort, Galway (39.2%)
Rathkeale, Limerick (31.76%)
Ballinrobe, Mayo (31.31%)
Ballaghaderreen, Roscommon (27.68%)
Clonee Village, Meath (27.5%)
Bunclody-Carrickduff,Carlow/Wexford (26.94%)
Monaghan, Monaghan (25.88%)
Ballyjamesduff, Cavan (24.85%)
Carrick-on-Shannon, Leitrim/Roscommon (24.66%)
Oldcastle, Meath (24.63%)
Longford, Longford (24.56%)
Cahir, South Tipperary (24.1%)
Kenmare, Kerry (23.11%)
Kinsale, Cork (22.17%)
Athenry, Galway (21.21%)
Roscommon, Roscommon (21.07%)
Ballybay, Monaghan (21.02%)
Cavan (20.53%)

If Travellers are taken out of the calculation – then the 20 most ethnically diverse towns are as follows: (Showing percentage of population that are not “White Irish” or ” White Irish Traveller”)

Ballyhaunis, Mayo 40.55
Gort, Galway 38.68
Clonee Village, Meath 27.50
Ballaghaderreen, Roscommon 26.49
Ballinrobe, Mayo 24.86
Ballyjamesduff, Cavan 24.85
Oldcastle, Meath 24.63
Monaghan, Monaghan 23.74
Kenmare, Kerry 23.12
Cahir, South Tipperary 22.92
Kinsale, Cork 22.17
Carrick-on-Shannon, Leitrim/Roscommon 21.58
Ballybay, Monaghan 20.85
Roscommon, Roscommon 20.40
Longford, Longford 19.96
Oranmore, Galway 19.52
Cavan, Cavan 19.08
Carrickmacross, Monaghan 18.96
Millstreet, Cork 17.95
Swords, Fingal 17.81

Highest percentage of Travellers in Rathkeale

The village of Rathkeale in Limerick has the highest percentage of residents who identified themselves as Travellers in the 2006 census. Over a quarter of the village class themselves as travellers – 26.98% . (395 out of 1464).
The town with the next highest percentage of travellers is Bunclody / Carrickduff in Carlow – where 11.17% of residents had traveler ethnic backgrounds (202 out of 1808)Other towns with high proportions of Travellers :

Abbeyfeale, Limerick (9.36%)
Tuam, Galway (7.76%)
Ballinrobe, Mayo (6.45%)
Ballyhaunis, Mayo (5.38%)
Athenry, Galway (4.76%)
Longford, Longford (4.6%)
Birr, Offaly/North Tipperary 4.05%)
Charleville, Cork (3.55%)

Lowest Ethnic Diversity

The town that has the least ethnic diversity in Ireland is Stradbally in County Laois – the home of Electric Picnic. Only 2.09% of the population of Stradbally class themselves as having ethnic origins that are not “White Irish”.
Out of 1053 population in the town on census night 2006 there was 1 Traveller, 18 “Other White” and 1 “Black or Black Irish” and 2 “Other Ethnic Origin”. 20 People did not answer the question.
Lowest 10 towns in Ireland for Ethnic Diversity: (percentage that are not “White Irish”)Portlaw, Waterford (4.68%)
Ballyragget, Kilkenny (3.02%)
Lifford, Donegal ( 4.11%)
Graiguenamanagh-Tinnahinch, Carlow/Kilkenny (4.03%)
Clara, Offaly (3.81%)
Raphoe, Donegal 3.41%)
Ballybunion, Kerry (3.29%)
Ferbane, Offaly (3.02%)
Ardnacrusha (Castlebank), Clare (2.83%)
Stradbally, Laois (2.09%)

No Blacks, Asians or Travellers

According to Irish census figures from 2006 – there are just 2 towns in Ireland where none of the residents identified their ethnic origin as either Black , Asian or Traveller. So – only people of “White Irish” or “Other White” origins lived in these towns on census night 2006. The towns are Millstreet in Cork and Killaloe in County Clare

Whites Only

There are not many areas in Ireland where the population is made up of only white people. In these days of immigration and multiculturalism - there are people of Asian and Black ethnic origins in most Irish towns .
Twenty years ago it would be rare to see a non-white face outside the large cities – but now there are people from many countries living in most towns in Ireland. But – there  are still a handful of areas that show up in the 2006 census as having no Asian or Black residents. These towns are :
Foxford in Mayo
Killaloe, Clare
Millstreet, Cork
Mountrath, Laois
Rathkeale, Limerick

Longford tops Unemployment Blackspots

The town of Longford has the highest unemployment rate in Ireland – of all towns over 1500 population.
Census figures show that the percentage of unemployed people in Longford is 11.14% – compared to a national figure of 5.89%. Longford has  almost double the average rate of unemployment.
Top Ten Towns for Worst Unemployment
Rathnew
Abbeyfeale
New Ross
Ballina (Mayo)
Carrick-on-Suir
Enniscorthy
Athy
Castlecomer-Donaguile
Cootehill
All these towns have rates of unemployment above 8.68%

Ballina in Tipperary has most Engineers

The town of Ballina in Tipperary has  9.85% of its workforce with a third level engineering, manufacturing or construction qualification. That is 92 people out of a workforce of 934.

The least likely place to find a third level qualification in Engineering would be  Rathnew  – with only 1.5% of the workforce having one.

Oranmore people best educated in Ireland?

 Oranmore has the best-educated residents in Ireland. Analysing figures from the 2006 census released yesterday – reveals that Oranmore in Co Galway has the highest percentage of graduates living there.
38.35% have a degree or higher and 53.3% of Oranmore residents who have completed their education – have a 3^rd level qualification. The next best educated town is Annacotty – with  52.66%  having completed third level and  37.17% obtaining a degree or higher.

Top Ten Best Educated Towns Overall:

Oranmore
Malahide
Annacotty
Ballina (North Tipperary)
Greystones
Maynooth
Donabate
Portmarnock
Kinsealy-Drinan
Sallins
Galway City

Clones has Least Educated Population

Latest census figures on education show that the town of Clones in County Monaghan has the largest percentage of people who ended formal educaton at Primary level – or had no formal education at all.
33.6% of Clones residents over 15 fall into this category.
The average percentage of people who did not undergo secondary education for Ireland as a whole is 18%.