Waterford Cencus 2022

Jamie2k9

Waterford: 127,085 (+10,909). Fifth fastest growing county with an incrase of 9.4% since 2016.

It also means there should be a 5th TD beasue the current 30,000 per TD is exceeded. There will be at least 11 additional TDs however boundry changes could decide if we get one or lose one if merged.

https://www.cso.ie/en/csolatestnews/pressreleases/2022pressreleases/pressstatementcensusofpopulation2022-preliminaryresults/

BBM77

Great performance by Waterford again. However, would nearly put money on it that we will have boundary changes so Waterford ends up with still having four TD’s. Can see it now “new constituency of East Cork/West Waterford to be created”.

Jamie2k9

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119239302#Comment_119239302

KK/Carlow also require a 6th.. Bring Ferrybank into Waterford would be the most logical option but I cant see that flying with FF, FG or even SF.

Not sure adding West Waterford with Cork would be good because Waterford would likely become 3 seats if Dungarvan moved to.

Interesting to see what happens.

BBM77

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119239394#Comment_119239394

So since when did logic ever come into it when it comes to Waterford and the government? Can't see Waterford ending up in a stronger position. Never does when it comes to the government. Remember this is a government/state that is willing to let people in Waterford die in order to maintain the status quo. Constituency boundary changes is hardly going to stop them.

Taxburden carrier

A 5th TD!

Have we not suffered enough?

GandhiwasfromBallyfermot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119239394#Comment_119239394

It makes absolutely zero sense for me living in Ferrybank to have to vote for KK councillors and TDs. What goes on across the bridge in Waterford council and the actions of Waterford TDs impacts me far more, and I'm a Kilkenny man. Its time peace talks were initiated and a Good Friday type dual citizenship deal was enacted.

Valhalla90

Time for a Waterford/South Kilkenny constituency. The county boundaries are not giving accurate population records of some towns and cities such as Waterford, Limerick, Drogheda that border neighboring counties. Time to redraw a few maps to get correct representation and population records.

BBM77

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119239681#Comment_119239681

Ireland must be the only country in the world where current local authority boundaries are based on medieval county boundaries. Its just absurd!

GandhiwasfromBallyfermot

It's crazy alright, Waterford local authority should really include all of Ferrybank & Slieverue, maybe even Kilmacow. I wonder is there a way to leave the county boundaries the same to keep the hurlers happy but still bring these areas into Waterford local authority and electoral area.

In fairness though, playing devils advocate, the one piece of Ferrybank which Waterford control they knocked half the village and built a motorway through it so maybe there's a reason a lot of Ferrybank people are happy to stay in KK....

BBM77

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119242217#Comment_119242217

Of course there is. But the reality is like nearly all government decisions relating to Waterford maintaining the status quo and or weakening Waterford as a city is the main driver of the decisions. We have seen this time and time again. TD’s from politically stronger counties, particularly from Cork, Kilkenny/Carlow and Wexford, are making these decisions and they are rarely in Waterford's favour. As you say, bringing these areas of Kilkenny into the Waterford local authority and electoral area would make Waterford stronger as a city. Current political thinking just won’t allow that to happen.

Valhalla90

Majority of people living in Ferrybank are fully aware that Kilkenny CoCo have no regard for Ferrybank itself, its seen as a cash cow for the county, the shopping centre is an example of this and look at the mess that is. Ferrybank is a suburb of Waterford City and should be governed by Waterford. Ferrybank would not exist in its form today if the city wasn't there.

Dunmoreroader

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119239681#Comment_119239681

Boutros Boutros-Ghali and George Mitchell couldn't sort this one out.

Junior

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119239681#Comment_119239681

BUT HURLING ! <que JP Phelan comparing us to Nazis again>

hardybuck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058251416/waterford-cencus-2022

The extra TD is very unlikely in the near future as a number of other constituencies already have a bigger population per TD and are ahead of Waterford in the queue.

It'll be interesting to see if those numbers are driven by migrants or those who relocated from places like Dublin since Covid. The city v rural spread will also he very interesting.

Dexpat

It's frustrating that as the city and county council are merged there are no specific city figures for the moment from the CSO. I had some spare time on my hands so I made a stab at putting them together from the electoral district figures given in the preliminary report. It seems that the city has been driving the overall big county population growth. The city growth seems to be nearly 13% compared to the overall figure for city and county of 9.4%. This in itself is the 5th highest growth rate in the state.

I wasn't too sure which electoral districts were part of the city before the councils were merged so the below table might not be 100% correct in terms of areas included. The figures are taken directly from the CSO though. Let me know if I need to add to delete anything. Regardless of that, I think it's safe to assume that Waterford is now by far the fastest growing city in the state, over double the rate of Galway, reversing a decades old trend. The table then adds the Co. Kilkenny suburbs which will also be done by the CSO in a later report next year. The city and suburbs are now nearly 60,000 and by adding Tramore, the metropolitan area will be over 70,000.

It a very positive result for Waterford and hopefully it will help to ensure that we get the share of state resources that we are entitled to.

914

Nice work on the above although Cork recently extended their city City boundary pre cso so no doubt they will also have a large population increase.

South KK and Tramore numbers won't be included in the city that way government can keep us down and also sell cork as the fastest growing city in Ireland

Valhalla90

Everything will be done to keep the citys population as low as possible to justify the lack of investment and delivery. Tramore Waterford City West is combined for local elections but they count Tramore separate for census, this makes no sense. The LEA map should be the city boundary like a Greater Waterford area.

Dexpat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119244467#Comment_119244467

Yeah the Cork city population will be much higher due to the boundary change, but on a like for like percentage basis the increase will be lower than Waterford and it is significant that Waterford is now growing at three times the rate it was at the last census.

The final census report next year will include city and suburbs This is shown below for 2011 compared to 2016, Limerick includes part of Clare and the Waterford figure includes part of Kilkenny. It will be done for every town as well.

Comparing the change between 2011 and 2016 (obviously figures will be higher for 2022)

Dublin city & suburbs 1,110,627 to 1,173,179 Increase 62,552.

Cork city & suburbs 198,582 to 208,669 Increase 10,087

Limerick city & suburbs 91,454 to 94,192 Increase 2,738

Galway city & suburbs 76,778 to 79,934 Increase 3,156

Waterford city & suburbs 51,519 to 53,504 Increase 1,985

As show in a previous post, the increase of over 6,000 in the 2022 census for Waterford city brings it to close to 60,000. I agree that Tramore should be in the Waterford figures and there has been a lot of gerrymandering in healthcare, education etc to deny us an equitable share of resources. We now have more ammunition to fight back though.

This census also cements Waterford as the only real city with the critical mass to drive growth for the SE region. Kilkenny's growth has really fallen back. God knows there are always issues to be overcome but these figures make me more optimistic for the future.

azimuth17

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119244381#Comment_119244381

Excellent work.

BBM77

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119244381#Comment_119244381

Agree with all you say. Galway has been artificially inflated because of the FDI investment tax break they had that Waterford did not have, amongst other things. Now that has been removed things are beginning to level out. Historically Waterford was always bigger than Galway. (PS, not having a go at Galway.) But as I said above and others have said the reality is political thinking is going to view Waterford’s growth as a threat to their status and do all they can to gerrymander the figures. For example, Shannon gets included in Limericks metro area but Tramore is prevented from being included in Waterford’s metro area. It's bare faced self-serving nonsense.

Asdfgh2020

there is a serious ‘chip on the shoulder’ tone in a lot of the posts on this topic……politicians and now it seems the CSO are conspiring to keep ‘waterford down’ etc…Galway/cork get everything…….the glass is always ‘half empty’….😡😡

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119246919#Comment_119246919

...what glass, we havent been given one!

Dexpat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119246919#Comment_119246919

Unfortunately decades of evidence suggest the contrary. The SE region has been continually undermined to move resources elsewhere. For healthcare purposes the region ended in the middle of Kilkenny while resources were diverted to Cork. For education, it was suggested by Simon Harris that Wicklow is in the SE and that it should be part of the region to share the Technological University resources. Carrick on Suir for example is now part of the Mid West region.

I agree it's not a CSO or government conspiracy though, it comes from the regions politicians' attitude that anything going to Waterford is bad for them. Brendan Howlin and Phil Hogan were two SE politicians that had a real chance to improve the regions prospects but rather than giving resources to Waterford they were happy to see them go elsewhere.

The census figures confirm that Waterford is the only place in the SE to generate the critical mass to compete with the other regions. I know people tend to concentrate on the negatives but like I agree, the figures can only be viewed in a positive light. I'm a glass 'half full' person and I haven't been 'home' in a while. Looking forward to a visit next week!

azimuth17

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119246919#Comment_119246919

We are well balanced here, with justifiable chips on both shoulders. There are too many instances to even bother recounting but poor politicians in the south east who pursued an ABW policy in the belief that this would strengthen their own counties has been at the heart of teh matter. In the fa ce of division its easy for government, permanent and elected to ignore justifiable claims from this area for investment. Dexpat has put the matter very well. Our glass has always been half full but persistent actions by government over the years seem intent on emptying it.

Valhalla90

Theres no chip on our shoulders here! Its a reality that we experience here of being discriminated on whether it be in healthcare, Education, transportation, Employment, the list goes on. Galway benefited for years with the "poor west" hand outs. On a positive note great to see Waterfords population growing so quickly, time for the government to actually deliver here and the South East.

914

It's not a chip on our shoulder or that the CSO is conspiring against Waterford. It is regional politics which holds Waterford back.

Just look at the "regional" support for SETU as regional representatives saw them getting a slice of the cake, where is the same "regional" support for 24/7 cardiac care or the hopping up and down in expanding the airport?

It issues such as Oranmore included in Galway cities population (located 10km from Galway)

Yet Tramore can not come under Waterford city's population (located 12k from Waterford)

Cork being able to click their fingers and extend their city boundary while government went to the hassle of obtaining an independent report which recommend Waterford extend it's city boundary and it's shut down.

Should Waterford include Tramore and parts of south KK, then we would be in a greater position to apply pressure on obtaining better services such as heath education etc...

mart 23

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119246179#Comment_119246179

Shannon is not included in Limerick metro figures .

Oscar Madison

Can someone fix the spelling on the title at the very least!

BBM77

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119254084#Comment_119254084

Well it says here for example it is. Pretty clear example of what I wrote above.

BBM77

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119246919#Comment_119246919

How is the 24/7 Cardiac care issue and what happened to WIT and university status for example and my previous post a bloody chip on our collective shoulder? There is undeniable proof that we are just not getting our fair share. People in Waterford need to take their head out of the sand and realise the way the government is treating Waterford. If you are from Waterford, that means you to.

hardybuck

Any chance of some discussion regarding the census?

Population growth of 7.6% nationally continues population growth which started in the 1990s. However, the counties in Leinster around Dublin continue to far outstrip the national levels, and only Offaly and Kilkenny grew by less than the national average.

On average almost 32,000 people a year moved or returned to the State between 2016 and 2022. It'd be interesting to see if Waterford had large numbers returning from emigration or if new arrivals accounted for the increase, or a mixture of both.

All but one of the 39 Dáil constituencies now have more than 30,000 people represented by a TD. Ireland is apparently highly over-respresented in comparison to other countries, so there may be a debate as to how many we actually need as the population will keep growing.

Nationally the number of constituents per TD is 32,032, while in Waterford it's now 31,771. I think there's 22 constituencies with a higher population per TD than Waterford, including local rivals like Carlow/Kilkenny, Wexford, Tipperary and most of Cork.

Waterford's population will continue to grow and it's time to start planning ahead as infrastructure can take 20+ years to be built with the planning involved. It's a good sign that agencies like the NTA were just recently announcing efforts to map out what types of transport etc. will be required over that timeframe.

I'd like to see much more density in Waterford and I feel the Council should be restricting new development outside of the ring road to encourage more infill and less sprawl.