TWICE THE SIZE - DIT Update - Dublin Institute of Technology

3.2.2 Dublin and the Gateways – Issues of Scale
Analysis of the population distribution and densities shows a strong spatial imbalance in the
allocation of people across the country. At present, 28% of the Ireland’s population lives in
Dublin City, which covers only 1.3% of the surface area of Ireland. If the population of the
Greater Dublin Area is considered, nearly 40% of the total population lives in the GDA of which
its surface area consists of 10% of that of Ireland. Again, if the Greater Dublin Area and the
seven neighbouring counties that are strongly linked to Dublin are considered, more than 50% of
Ireland’s population lives in the 11 counties that constitute only a little more than a quarter of
Ireland’s land (Tab. 4a). The numbers only confirm the strong domination of Dublin over the rest
of the Republic.
If we extrapolate the recent trends in population growth for different areas of the Dublin region
and the rest of the country, it is clear that, unless there is a strong disruption to these trends,
the growth of population in Dublin region will continue to be stronger than in other parts of
Ireland, and therefore, the domination of Dublin in population concentration will continue.
Tables 4b and 4c show the forecasts of population numbers in 2020 and 2030. Although, these
predictions show growth of population in all parts of the country, the gap between the GDA’s
share of population and the rest of the Republic will increase. This is well illustrated by Figure
6.
Counties (…) Population
2006
Share of National pop. % Surface Area %
Dublin (1) 1 187 176 28 1.3
Mid East (3) 475 360 11 8.6
GDA (4) 1 662 536 39 10.0
7 adjacent counties* (7) 574 641 14 16.5
GDA + 7 counties (11) 2 237 177 53 26.4
Rest of RoI (15) 2 002 671 47 73.6
State (26) 4 239 848 100.00 100.00
Table 4a: Spatial distribution of Ireland’s population in 2006. Source: Census 2006. Note:
* Seven adjacent counties include: Wexford, Carlow, Laois, Offaly, Westmeath, Cavan and
Louth.
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