No Lithuanians or Poles:
These four Irish towns – according to the 2006 census – were the only towns without a single Polish born or a Lithuanian born resident. It seems strange that these 4 towns should be avoided in this way. Is there something strange about these towns or something different?
Ballyragget, Kilkenny
Fethard, South Tipperary
Ardnacrusha (Castlebank), Clare
Stradbally, Laois
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
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%)
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%)
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
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
Gort in Co Galway has 40.74% of it’s population that were born outside Ireland. Those born in the American continent make up just over 34% of the total population. Many of these people came from Brazil in the last decade.