Irish Towns Guide

Carrick-on-Suir was the fourth worst town in our chart of the worst place to live in Ireland . Based on census 2006 information we have compiled a top 20 list of the best and worst places to live in  Ireland. Of course people will disagree with these positions – but they are based on facts and figures like unemployment, housing, lone parents and education.At the 2006 census 2006 – the population of Carrick-on-Suir was 5906 .The unemployment rate was 9.59% -  this compares badly with a National Average of 5.92% and was the 6th highest rate of unemployment in Ireland
In Carrick-on-Suir – 6.66% of the workforce are unable to work because of disability or ill health – which is  over the national average of 4.71% .
Of those people in work – the largest proportion are employed in manufacturing (20% of the workforce) .Lone parent households in Carrick-on-Suir- make up 26.86% of all households. This is the 5th highest in Ireland and about 25% above the National average of 19.29%

Local Authority rented homes make up 15.57% of the dwelling units in Carrick-on-Suir – the ninth highest percentage in Ireland.
Rented homes make up 34.45% of all homes in Carrick-on-Suir – slightly above the average for Ireland of 28.1%.
28% of occupied houses in Carrick-on-Suir are owned outright – with no mortgage outstanding – the same as the average for Ireland as a whole.

Heating: 10.93% of all dwellings in Carrick-on-Suir have no central heating – which is aroud the same as the rest of the country (10.22%).
I.T. : 40.98% of households own personal computers in Carrick-on-Suir – compared to 53.3% nationally. Only 13.6% had broadband at the last census – much lower than the Irish average at the time of 20.18% . Also – 67.4% of homes had no internet access at all in Carrick-on-Suir – compared to the average of 51%

Education : 22.43% of the people living in Carrick-on-Suir – only went as far as primary school or had no formal education at all. This is very close to 40% above the national average of 16.72%.
People with a third level degree or a higher qualification – make up just 6.76% of the Carrick-on-Suir workforce – which is less than half the national average of 16.57%

Community involvement in Carrick-on-Suir is just below the average for the country. In Carrick-on-Suir 15.3% of the over 15s said they carry out some sort of voluntary work compared to the national average of 15.42%

The percentage of people with a disability in Carrick-on-Suir is above the national average of 9.8% at 12.2%.

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We have carried out detailed analysis of census statistics from all the towns in Ireland with more than 1500 people. Based on that information we have compiled a top twenty of the best and worst towns in Ireland.

Longford Town came out second worst (just behind Rathnew).

At the last census in 2006 – the population of Longford Town was 8836
Unemployment was 11.14% the highest in Ireland at the time and almost double the – National Average of 5.92%)
5.5% of the workforce are unable to work because of disability or ill health – which is also more than the national average of 4.71%
Of those working – the majority work in manufacturing or sales (25% of the workforce) .

Lone parent households -make up 27.12% of those in Longford – which is the third highest in Ireland just behind Tipperary and Cashel .
Local Authority rented homes make up 19.3% of the dwelling units in Longford – the second highest in Ireland just behind Rathnew. Rented homes make up 47% of housing units in Longford – the most in all the towns in the survey and way above the average of 28.1%.
22.3% of homes in Longford are owned outright – with no mortgage outstanding . This compares with an average of 28% across Ireland as a whole.
Residents of Traveller ethnic origin make up 4.6% of Longford’s population – the eighth highest percentage in any town over 10000 population.

Central Heating – 17.92% of all dwellings in Longford have no central heating – which is 70% worse than the average for the country as a whole (10.22%).

Education : 20% of the people living in Longford – who have completed their education  – only went as far as primary school or had no formal education at all. This is about 25% above the national average of 16.72%

Community involvement in Longford is about the same as the average for the country . In Longford 15.49 % of the over 15s carry out some sort of voluntary work compared to the national average of 15.42%

The percentage of retired people though – is below the average of 11.05% at 8.84%.

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Owner Occupiers
In Ireland just over 28% of all housing is rented – either from Private landlords or local Authorities. Seventy two percent of homes ore owned. This is similar to 2004 figures from the UK of 30% of rented dwellings. According to figures from the Irish 2006 census – for towns with populations over 1500 – the town in Ireland with the largest percentage of homeowners is Portmarnock.
Portmarnock has 80.34% of housing units occupied by the owner.Top Ten towns for percentage of Home ownership in Ireland:
Portmarnock 80.33 %
Malahide 78.05
Enniskerry 77.71
Leixlip 76.1
Celbridge 75.86
Dunboyne 75.49
Ratoath 74.78
Donabate 74.12
Annacotty 73.07
Stamullen 72.39

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Dungloe  (An Clochán Liath) in Donegal is the town in Ireland with the highest percentage of single person households. Census figures show that 40.37% of households in Dungloe are occupied by just one person. (174 out of 431)

Other towns with high percentages of people living alone:

Swinford, Mayo 40.14
Manorhamilton, Leitrim 35.34
Foxford, Mayo 33.64
Boyle, Roscommon 33.47
Killorglin, Kerry 33.38
Ballybunion, Kerry 33.15
Castlerea, Roscommon 33.10
Kanturk, Cork 33.06
Kiltimagh, Mayo 32.85

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House Owners with No Mortgage.
People living in Rural areas of Ireland are more likely to have no mortgage outstanding on their home. In the 2006 census 46.48% of rural dwellers owned their home and had no mortgage outstanding on it.
Of the towns with a population over 1500 – it was Kilrush in County Clare that had more mortgage free residents. In Kilrush 41.7% of housing units are owned outright with no mortgage outstanding according to census returns.
Other towns with a high percentage of mortgage free owners are:
Kanturk , Castlerea, Ballyshannon, Swinford, Clones, Castleisland, Castlecomer-Donaguile. All these towns had between 40% and 41% of the homes fully paid for.
Interestingly – 4 of these towns also appear in the top six towns with the highest percentage of over 65s. Castlerea, Kanturk, Kilrush and Swinford. These towns have rates ranging from 18% to 23% of over 65 year olds
Rural Ireland though appears to have younger home owners with no mortgage debts – only 12.24% of rural dwellers are over 65 . This might be accounted for by the higher proportion of self builds in the countryside – usually on land owned by the family with lower costs.

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Stamullen only has 6.3% of it’s housing occupied as rented accommodation – the rest is owner occupied.

The 2006 census figures showed there were 873 housing units in Stamullen and only 55 of those were rented. Eight of those were rented from the Local Authority. This is the second lowest percentage of Council rented housing in Ireland *Kinsealy- Drinan is the lowest).
Rented accommodation is rare in rural areas (12.62%) – but is less common in Newcastle 8%) , Ratoath (9.7%) , Portmarnock (9.8%)  and Stamullen .

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