Galway City Population Growth Stagnating

I would say there a number of factors.

1.Cost of housing, we are one of the more expensive locations in Ireland.

2. Traffic is horrendous and Galway has received very negative press regarding the Ring Road, it has been held up for years now and people considering moving here factor this into their decision.

3.Climate,most see Galway as the rain capital of the world😀 not entirely true but it is a damp spot.

4.The perception that Galway is a frivolous place, great for the weekend away and a party but not to be taken seriously as a place to live.

it's had for any city to grow when there's a housing shortage. Where would the new arrivals live?

Cost of housing is an indicator of desirability. After Cork City - Galway City is next in line.

The article compares Galway City with Leitrim - which is really daft to be honest.

There is faster population growth occurring just outside the City Admin Boundary in the satellite towns. Our public transport infrastructure is lagging behind but there are more and more house and apartment building occurring and been planned.

We really need to spend on rail, bus, tram to link up the Galway City area's and the wider area then can increase the density of the existing City Boundary.

There are plans for a new suburb to be built in Ardaun but there is plenty of potential for the population density of the City in the existing City Admin Boundary to increase back to what it was back in the 60/70's. At what rate is the question.

The figures in the tribune article of 4% growth are just wrong. It uses the Galway city and suburbs figure from 2016 of 79,934 and compares it to the Galway City local authority area in the 2022 census.

The actual growth for the local authority area was actually about 6%. 78,667 compared to 83,456. The new city and suburbs figure will be published by the CSO in May I think. It will only be a few thousand more, as the council area covers the vast majority of the urban area unlike Limerick.

Limerick's city and suburbs figure will also be about 6% higher as a comparison.

Irish people don't aspire to live in cities. They have no incentive to do them well.

Whilst I agree somewhat to the first part, I'd disagree on the second.

No longer live in the city and love where I am, but I still want to traverse the city without pulling my hair out.

I wanted the ring road and would still like it built if it didn't take away from other projects and schemes to move people around the city. I think the city is stuck in a quagmire and will only move forward with wholesale changes to the political and cultural landscapes.

Population growth for the county was 7.1%. This would have been concentrated in the non city council areas surrounding the City. The urban area defined as Galway city needs to be expanded to Include Oranmore, Barna,Claregalway and surroundings and also planning for the city should reasonably probably also incorporate Moycullen, Athenry, Furbo and surroundings as by an large growth in these areas is a function of proximity to the city.

A conservative estimate would put the effective Galway city population currently at 100,000. Grow this at 7.1% every 5 years and by 2050 you are up to 150k. That would just incorporate the area in red below

This absolutely. Very little housing development in the last 10 years or so when compared with other large urban centres. Property pages in local newspapers seem to solely feature existing properties for sale with very few new developments advertised.

You haven't the lotto numbers for that year too by any chance?

It was at capacity when it opened.

This is 100% correct. There are people living in Galway that are very happy for Galway not to grow or develop at all. They like the status quo and prefer if Galway was still a small city.