Irish Towns Guide

The following Irish towns have levels of THM’s which are above the current standard in the Drinking Water Regulations. These standards are being made more strict from Dec 2008 - to 100 migro grams per litre - so these water supplies will be well above the safe levels unless something is done to rectify things.  The politicians seem to be keeping quiet about this recent news from the Irish EPA )Environmental Protection Agency) .

Ennis
Ennistymon
Ballintra
Ballinasloe
Gort
Inishere
Killimor
Kinvara
Loughrea
Roundstone
Spiddal
Dingle
Clogh-Castlecomer
Inistioge
Mountmellick
Kiltimagh
East Meath
Trim
Killarney

THMs  are Cancer Group B carcinogens (shown to cause cancer in laboratory animals). Trichloromethane (chloroform) is by far the most common in most water systems. Dibromochloromethane is the most serious cancer risk, (0.6 ug/l to cause a 10-6 cancer risk increase) followed in order by Bromoform (4 ug/l), and Chloroform (6 ug/l).

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Galway residents had to suffer months of having to buy bottled water because of Cryptosporidium in their water supply for a large part of 2007. Several people became ill because of the poor water quality and tourism was badly affected. The bad news is that it could get worse for many other Irish towns.The following towns are some of the larger ones in Ireland where drinking water supplies have been identified by the Environmental Protection agency as needing improvements because thay have inadequate treatment for Cryptosporidium. (Over 184 thousand people are supplied by these sub standard water schemes).

Letterkenny
Clonmel
Kells
Oldcastle
Tipperary
Carrick-on-Suir
Castletownbere
Moate
Kenmare
Ballinalee
Edgeworthstown
Rathdrum
Graigue
Castlegregory
Rosmuc
Cleggan
Claddaghduff
Cong
Sneem

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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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Most of the date used on this site is from the Census - but a recent interesting  litter survey was published on all towns in Ireland with more than 6000 population.
The littering survey ranked the 50 towns in order of cleanest first, The full table is shown below (From the Irish Business Against Litter). Sligo came out worst (dirtiest) and Dundalk came out the best (cleanest)

1. Dundalk “Litter Free”
2. Cavan “Litter Free”
3. Fermoy “Litter Free”
4. Trim “Litter Free”
5. Killarney “Litter Free”
6. Monaghan “Litter Free”
7. Carlow “Litter Free”
8. Galway City “Litter Free”
9. Youghal “Litter Free”
10. Bray “Litter Free”
11. Letterkenny “Litter Free”
12. Ballina “Litter Free”
13. Naas “Litter Free”
14. Roscommon “Litter Free”
15. Thurles “Litter Free”
16. Drogheda “Litter Free”
17. Athy “Litter Free”
18. Waterford City “Litter Free”
19. Midleton “Litter Free”
20. Wexford “Litter Free”
21. Arklow “Litter Free”
22. Castlebar “Litter Free”

23. Swords “Moderately Littered”
24. Ballinasloe “Moderately Littered”
25. Maynooth “Moderately Littered”
26. Kilkenny “Moderately Littered”
27. Greystones “Moderately Littered”
28. Tralee “Moderately Littered”
29. Portlaoise “Moderately Littered”
30. Gorey “Moderately Littered”
31. Ennis “Moderately Littered”
32. Leixlip “Moderately Littered”
33. Longford “Moderately Littered”
34. Limerick City “Moderately Littered”
35. Cobh “Moderately Littered”
36. Clonmel “Moderately Littered”

37. Dungarvan “Littered”
38. Wicklow “Littered”
39. Tullamore “Littered”
40. Mullingar “Littered”
41. Newbridge “Littered”
42. Navan “Littered”

43. Athlone “Seriously Littered”
44. Dun Laoghaire “Seriously Littered”
45. Cork City “Seriously Littered”
46. Enniscorthy “Seriously Littered”

47. Mallow “Litter Blackspot”
48. Tallaght “Litter Blackspot”
49. Nenagh “Litter Blackspot”
50. Sligo “Litter Blackspot”

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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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The 2006 census figures show that  Muslims in Ireland make up  0.767% of the population. (32539 out of a total population of 4239848)
A breakdown of religions was carried out on the Irish towns with more than 5000 people.
Of all these towns - Cavan Town  has the highest percentage of Muslims in Ireland - 3.2% of the population of Cavan Town stated they were Muslims.

Top 10  Irish towns for Muslims (over 5000 population)

Cavan  3.2%
Killarney  2.95%
Ballinasloe  2.32%
Tralee  2.3%
Ennis  2.03%
Roscommon  1.87%
Balbriggan  1.75%
Portlaoise  1.67%
Castlebar 1.62%
Tullamore  1.6%

The towns with the least Muslims in Ireland are:

Dunboyne  0.035% (just 2 out of  5713)
Buncrana  .068%
Youghal  0.088%
Birr  0.098%

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Bray has 7.77% of it’s population who stated they had no religion in the 2006 census. This is the highest out of all Irish towns (with pop. over 5000)
In Ireland as a whole  4.39% of the population stated they had no religious faith.

Top Ten Towns in Ireland (pop over 5000) for people with no religion
Bray  7.77%
Maynooth  7.69%
Greystones  7.62%
Galway City  7.48%
Greater Dublin Area  7.01%
Skerries  6.23%
Donabate  6.02%
Lusk  5.71%
Malahide   5.62%
Swords   5.61%

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Good Health
The people of Stamullen appear to be the healthiest in Ireland - according to analysis of 2006 Census figures.
The percentage of people in Stamullen who stated that had some degree of physical or mental disability or impairment - was just 4.6%. This was the lowest out of all towns with populations over 1500.
The national average is 9.3% - so Stamullen residents are 50% less likely to be disabled.

Towns with  Lowest disability rates in Ireland:
Stamullen 4.6%
Oranmore 5%
Enfield 5.2%
Carrigtwohill 5.3%
Ratoath 5.4%
Dunboyne 5.7%
Donabate 5.8%
Ashbourne 5.8%
Kinsealy-Drinan 5.8%
Sallins 6%

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The town of Tipperary is behind the rest of Ireland when it comes to Information Technolgy. Census 2006 figures showed that  just 11.4% of Tipperary households had broadband and 71.84% of households had no internet access at all. This is the highest percentage of any town in Ireland  (National average 51.7%)
Also - just 36.35% of households owned a personal computer  compared  to the national average of  53.5%.
The high proportion of rented accommodation might be one of the reasons for these figures.

Ten worst towns in Ireland for IT (with population over 1500)
Tipperary
Cashel
Ballyhaunis
Roscrea
Ballaghaderreen
Bunclody-Carrickduff
Ballyjamesduff
Castlerea
Kanturk
Enniscorthy

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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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