18/12/2007

Ireland Tops EU With Fastest Growing Population

The Republic is now a European Union record breaker having the fastest growing population.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has published figures for the year to April 2007, which show the population grew by 2.5% to a total of 4.34 million people.

The figures reveal that two thirds of the population increase of 106,100 was accounted for by migration, with the remaining one third from natural population increase.

The total number of immigrants in the year to April 2007 rose by 2,000 to 109,500. However, the number of emigrants also rose to 42,200, therefore net migration fell from 71,800 to 67,300.

Meanwhile, as shown earlier this week when a single central Dublin road accident brought chaos to the city's traffic, the number of people driving to work by car, truck or van has also increased – up by 22% over the past four years.

Again according to the latest figures from the CSO, 225,000 more people between 2002 and 2006 used motor vehicles to get to work.

Their Travel to Work, School and College report gives detailed results of the census conducted on 23 April 2006.

Of the 1.7 million workers in Ireland, almost 1.1 million (57%) drove a car to work.

When combined with workers who travelled to work as car passengers or as van drivers, seven-out-of-10 workers were private vehicle users in 2006.

And distance isn't necessarily a factor either as of the 247,000 primary school children who were driven to school, more than half (55%) of the total were driven 1km or less.

Among secondary school students there was a marked difference in transport use between urban and rural dwellers.

There more than half of children in rural areas take the bus compared with one-in-five in urban areas. In all, 45% were driven 4km or less to school.

Just under a quarter of the Irish population has a car – nearly 1.2 million households owned at least one car in 2006, which is an increase of 170,000 compared with 2002.

(BMcC)

Related Irish News Stories
Click here for the latest headlines.

04 June 2008
Road Death Toll Reaches 12 In One Week
After three more deaths on Ireland's roads, the death toll now stands at a morbid 12 for this week alone. An elderly woman died on Tuesday when her car was in collision with a truck outside Sligo. Lillian Fairweather, 81, from Rosses Point, is believed to have been exiting a filling station on the N15 Bundoran Road when a lorry struck her car.
07 March 2018
Carrickmacross Kerry Flood Plant Workers Stage 24-Hour Strike
Workers at a Kerry Foods plant in Co Monaghan have staged strike action in protest at an attempt to make 31 workers redundant without agreement. A 24-hour work stoppage took place at the factory from 7.30am in Carrickmacross on Tuesday, 06 March. SIPTU Organiser, Jim McVeigh, said a further two work stoppages will take place on 13 and 20 March.
31 August 2016
Labour Urges Further Talks In Dublin Bus Dispute
Labour's spokesperson on Defence, Transport, Tourism and Sport has said that further talks must take place to resolve the ongoing dispute at Dublin Bus. Mr Brendan Ryan made the call following reports on Tuesday of three, 48-hour work stoppages due to take place in September.
30 August 2016
Series Of 48-Hour Work Stoppages Announced By Dublin Bus Workers
SIPTU the union has served notice of a series of 48-hour work stoppages throughout September by its members at Dublin Bus in a dispute over pay.
24 February 2016
999 Operators To Hold 24-Hour Work Stoppage
Operators at the Emergency Call Answering Service in Navan are to stage a 12 hour work stoppage on Thursday, according to a report by RTÉ. It is understood that the industrial is being taken after the Communication Workers' Union members backed the action by a majority of 84% in a vote held in January. The operators will stop work at 08:00.