Waterford Cencus 2022

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”.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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...

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.

Most of the new housing developments currently under construction are all within the Outer Ring Rd so its mostly infill at the moment.

What is the point of the census if it is going to be ignored? The discussion has been valid considering things like the reports on university status, 24/7 Cardiac care, boundary extension etc have all found in Waterford’s favour and were tossed in the bin by the government because they were too threating to the status quo. If you want to make somewhere better you have to look at the problems. Waterford does not have a population problem, it has been growing in all past census, the latest showing particularly strong growth. Waterford has a politics problem. Which is relevant to the census results.

Well if you want to talk about past census how about Waterford cities population has always showed an increase. Cork and Limerick cities actually showed a fall in population in recent past census.

But yes, they are just preliminary results. However, still stand by what I wrote. If the census results now and in the past is not reflected in the actual government actions we see, I ask again. What is the point of the census if it is going to be ignored? The reality is government actions do not reflect the census results in Waterford. As I said, positive things like this are usually tossed in the bin by the government. It is not an “everyone is out to keep Waterford down” attitude if there is proof of it happening in reality, which I pointed out already. Sure, university status and 24/7 Cardiac care issues I mentioned are directly related to the population as counted in the census. Is the census just an academic exercise or is it actually for “future planning”? WMADTS I posted above show the census is just an academic exercise. For god sake, you would be quicker driving to Tramore and Dunmore East from parts of the city than you would driving from one side of the city to the other. Yet Tramore and Dunmore East are not included in Waterford’s metro area. But Shannon, which is further away from Limerick city and is a town with it’s own employment, is included in Limericks metro area. It is a farce.

We had glass but they took that away to Eastern Europe. Absolute disgrace

I've updated the city census results by adding Ballymaclode. Percentage changes have also been included and I'm confident the figures for each electoral division are correct. There is still a slight discrepancy between the final 2016 CSO reported city and suburbs figure of 53,504 and the electoral division figures added together which give 54,038.

Regardless of this, the difference of only 534, means the final 2022 city figure looks certain to be over 60,000.

The difference could be due to the CSO using a different methodology for city and suburbs than electoral divisions. Only including urban area for example would exclude some isolated housing in electoral divisions. It might also be due to some of the Co Kilkenny division of Kilculliheen being excluded. It could also be due to incorrect divisions being included/excluded. Fell free to point out changes to be made.

I can’t speak for Limerick on this point but the reason the Cork census showed declines previously was because the boundary was so small. It fell well within the urban area so as the urban area grew, the traditional ‘city’ became less dense. And despite the “ease” or extending the boundary suggested in another post, it was far from that. It basically only extends east as far as just beyond the tunnel due to the conflict between the city and country councils. That whole eastern corridor is fairly build up, will have large residential developments added to it over the next few years, yet it is still in the county figures.

Some census analysis from John Fitzgerald from the ESRI. Positive highlighting of the Waterford figures which is primarily as a result of inward migration. Not a premium article. Can be accessed as part of free weekly articles.