Irish Demographic Maps

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Recently I managed to stumble upon something I've been looking for ages... Irish census constituency-level data, albeit only from the 2006 census (thus with the old constituency boundaries which have changed twice since).

Either way, I'm going to use this thread to put up my findings while trying to remind myself how to use Paint.

Anyway let's begin with some with one of the more classic indicators of Irishness; Catholicism or at least declared Catholicism (the difference is very important)



One of the things striking about this is its simple homogeneity. The republic of Ireland is still a country in which people identity themselves as belonging to the faith of Rome, no matter how nominal their practice. Here it is important to recognize that the actual practice of faith can vary widely across the country from places where a majority attend mass (a lot of the west) to some Inner city working class districts of Dublin where attendance can be as low as 5% (and would be even lower if it weren't for Eastern European immigration).

Most Catholic: Limerick West (93.85%)
Least Catholic: Dublin South East (67.65%)

There were only three constituencies where the percentage dipped below 80% - All in Dublin and in order; Dublin West, Dublin Central and Dublin South East. Some of this figure can be explained by migration - non-Catholic migration from Asia and Nigeria is strongly concentrated in Dublin Inner city - as well as rising social liberalism. Within Dublin itself it is worth noting that the most Catholic areas correspond to the population of 'native' working class around the old Northern Inner suburbs and in Tallaght (aka Dublin South West). However this probably is due to the traditionally higher levels of Protestants among higher social groups and not that the wealthy Catholics as a group are beginning to identity themselves as something else. I imagine that the result of the 2011 census would be little different albeit with a small decrease across the board showing no regional leaning either way (though I don't know for sure).

[Tetro Kornbluth]

In its own confusing way the census divided people in what they call "Socio-economic groups of reference" which are:

- Employers and Managers
- Higher Professional
- Lower Professional
- Non-Manual
- Manual Skilled
- Semi-Skilled
- Unskilled
- Own Account workers (i.e. Self-employed)
- Farmers
- Agricultural Workers
- All Others gainfully employed and occupied

Unfortunately I can't seem to find what exactly their definitions are. Furthermore, the final section 'others' is nearly always one of the largest and I don't know what exactly it contains. So take these maps as warnings.

First of all, here is Employers and Managers:



I used these bands simply because I wanted to demonstrate the disparity in Dublin and the relative equality across the rest of the country (all the <13 constituencies outside of the Capital are only just under). Observe:

Highest %: Dublin South (27.18%) Surprise!
Lowest %: Dublin North West (10.7%) Again, massive shock.

Dublin South along with neighbouring Dun Laoghaire (26.71%) are well ahead with something of a home counties effect seen in the countries around Dublin with relative equality (c15%) across the rest of the country. The lowest numbers are seen in Dublin Inner city and Northern and Western suburbs whose modern day layout is a legacy of post-war slum clearances (which often ended up delivering people to bigger, less well-maintained if more materially comfortable - that was not difficult - slums) or in other words, Dublin Central, Dublin South Central and Dublin North West. Although the crash certainly would have lowered things, I doubt any changes in overall pattern took place in time for the 2011 census.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Forgot to add:

Total Employers/Managers: 16.02%

Now, here is higher professionals:



This will not be the last map in which the South-East of Dublin significantly stands out from the rest of the country. For the record three highest were, if it is not already obvious:

Dublin South East (17.26%)
Dun Laoghaire (14.33%)
Dublin South (13.37%)

In fact, the total % for DSE almost matches that for "Employers and Managers" (there is nowhere else where there this is even remotely close). This, however, should not be totally surprising as it is in this constituency where most government buildings are and where the civil service lives - in addition to being the location of pretty much all national media and Trinity College (with University College Dublin being just over the border in Dublin South).

The lowest was Donegal South-West (2.28%)

(Just realized that I forgot to put "Source: 2006 Census" on the map. Oh well).

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Ireland is awesome.

You can really see the divide between north and south Dublin. It looks like the working class areas of the city are also more religious.

Not necessarily as there are more Protestants in the middle class regions although South Dublin is certainly more liberal than the North.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

I'm not doing this in any organized order. Here is % of persons in privately occupied homes "renting from local authority"

Remember this is from 2006, to say things have changed somewhat in terms of housing in Ireland since then is somewhat understating things (although o/c many patterns remain):



Highest: Dublin North West (18.65%)
Lowest: Meath East (3.03%) (This is Dublin commuter belt and a lot of its residents would have been fairly recent arrivals)

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Within Dublin itself it is worth noting that the most Catholic areas correspond to the population of 'native' working class around the old Northern Inner suburbs and in Tallaght (aka Dublin South West). However this probably is due to the traditionally higher levels of Protestants among higher social groups and not that the wealthy Catholics as a group are beginning to identity themselves as something else. I imagine that the result of the 2011 census would be little different albeit with a small decrease across the board showing no regional leaning either way (though I don't know for sure).

The drop in percentages of declared Catholics owes as much if not more to (non-Polish, non-Lithuanian) immigration as secularisation; the 2011 census figures showed that 90% of Irish citizens declared as Catholics, as opposed to barely over 50% for non-citizens.

Ummm... that was my point.

A couple of sites that allow you to view the data at a more detailed level:

http://airomaps.nuim.ie/flexviewer/?config=Census2011.xml

http://maps.pobal.ie/#/Map

Wow. Excellent. Thanks.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Just to correlate with the above, here is percentage born outside the EU:



Here there are three constituencies which are well-ahead of the others: Dublin West (12.95%), Dublin South East (12.4%) and Dublin Central (11.76%) and while correlation is neither causation nor explanation it should be compared with the Catholic map above.

One thing the census does not seem do by constituency at least is divide those born in the USA and the Commonwealth settler colonies and people born anywhere else outside the EU. Which is unfortunate and probably would have shown the Dublin-Non-Dublin division more. Lowest was Limerick West (1.4%). Donegal South West and Tipperary North were the only other two below 2%.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Now here's farmers



Pattern seems pretty umm.. explanatory.

Anything anyone would be interested in here?

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Did anyone in Dublin declare their occupation as "farmer"? I'd like to meet that person

Yes. In every constituency there were people who declared themselves as farmers. In Dublin Central there were 47 people who were declared as farmers (or 0.04%). It's not impossible or like the US, it only takes two hours from the centre to get into deep countryside and it's possible that these people have more than one job which requires them to be in the city but any real details further than that I would not know.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

And so here is No Religion (The Census has in its infinite wisdom and my personal access divided the religion category into four: Catholic (see above), Other Stated (go figure), No Religion and Not stated)

For the sake of convenience I've done some rounding with Cork NC at 3.97% and Dublin NC at 5.99% I jumped them up a category.



Dublin Central and Dublin South East well out in front again...

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Ask and you shall receive.



I decided to use Orange as my colour for this map. At one time it would have been perfect, now well it is still very appropriate but not entirely: Dublin West (14.5%) here is the real anomaly as the constituency with the highest percentage and it is not a historic protestant area (which most of the others in dark shades are). In short, I strongly suspect that this is a Historic Protestant populations + Recent non-Eastern European migrants map. Lowest was Limerick West (3.27%)

In only three constituencies was the % for non-religion higher than that for Other religion stated: Dublin Central, Dublin North Central and Cork North Central although in all cases it was by narrow margins.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

I thought there were more Prots in Cavan/Monaghan

There were, especially in Monaghan*. The population declined dramatically after partition though.

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Ah this is where you have been ill-informed. There has long been a Protestant minority in Donegal, around 25% in 1921 although obviously much lower now. During the period of partition, dividing up Donegal between the North and the South was regularly touted even including the Boundary commission. Some signs of Northern Protestantism still persist in the region to this day.

* (Actually IIRC there were more Prots in Monaghan at time of the 1911 Census than in Fermanagh. Either way, the population levels were very similar. It was geography not population o/c which determined partition).

In the "Other Stated Religion" map, four constitutencies outside the Greater Dublin area stand out in brownish colour. Thre of them are adjacent to Northern Ireland, so I assume its Protestants there.

Yes. Those regions are part of historic Ulster.

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What Lewis said but also all of the above apply to some what. West Cork has got a reputation for its large (by Irish standards) Hippie population and of Continental Europeans setting up organic farms. The Eastern Part of the constituency is also quite rich and full of old towns, and old, rich towns in Ireland are associated with non-negligible Protestant populations. The same is true in Wicklow.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

I thought there were more Prots in Cavan/Monaghan

Actually IIRC there were more Prots in Monaghan at time of the 1911 Census than in Fermanagh. Either way, the population levels were very similar. It was geography not population o/c which determined partition).

There were (and are) more Presbyterians in Monaghan than Fermanagh. Fermanagh has (and had) a much larger Protestant population once you include Anglicans and Methodists. (Supposedly this is because a lot of the 17th century settlers in Fermanagh were Border Reivers - of doubtful Protestantism to begin with - who went with Anglicanism rather than Presbyterianism once on the ground.)

This is correct. I knew I was forgetting something important. Thanks.

EDIT: I had been trying to find some stuff on this earlier to back up my faulty memory. This map was the best I could find (From wiki so I don't know how reliable):



So yeah correct, I apologize for any misinformation given.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Born in the UK....



I put Donegal North East a shade too dark and it's number can't be read in the chart - it should read 17.07%.

Lowest numbers seen in - predictably enough - Working Class urban areas.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Fascinating, and I normally find this kind of thing very dull. I live in 'Dublin Central' and don't recall ever seeing any farms around but some people have gardens and perhaps some of them grow broccoli or something.

Whereabouts, if I may be so imprudent to ask?

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Fascinating, and I normally find this kind of thing very dull. I live in 'Dublin Central' and don't recall ever seeing any farms around but some people have gardens and perhaps some of them grow broccoli or something.

Whereabouts, if I may be so imprudent to ask?

Cabra, one of Bertie's many old stomping grounds. I once came home to find the man himself in my kitchen, let in by my brother to the horror of my parents.

What.

Bertie Ahern was renowned for his continual doorstep canvassing at all weekends (and sometimes evenings) during the year, in between elections as well as during them.

Oakvale, for some reason I thought you came from Monaghan.

No, that's the other (now rarely seen) I-IE poster; Jas.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Now to go a bit off-base. Lietuva!



Yes, that's right. No detailed Protestant information available but there is data on the Lithuanian-born (In nation of birth the data by constituency I can access is Ireland, the UK, Poland, Lithuania, Other EU and ROTW (see above)).

So what happened in Cavan/Monaghan?

[Tetro Kornbluth]

^

Yeah, I know that county level (and lower) data exists, I'm just sticking with constituency level for the moment.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

^

Yeah, I know that county level (and lower) data exists, I'm just sticking with constituency level for the moment.

The point I'm trying to make is that in 2006, there was a detailed breakdown given by Christian denomination at county level rather than just lumping everyone in as "other religion". The jazzed-up but dumbed-down "profiles" for the 2011 census no longer give that detail.

Oh sorry, I catch you now. I've found though that the CSO sometimes doesn't release some detailed information for years after they have collected it. I don't know if this is the case here or not.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Unskilled labourers with some rounding done (Galway West and Kildare South were put upwards. I am so cruel to these places)



Kind of interesting how this really is the inverse of the Managerial map.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Lower Professionals:

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Due to.. umm.. circumstances, housing data from 2006 might not necessarily reflect the current situation well (or rather, actually, may represent it far too well).

And now here comes the negative equity belt...

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Decided to follow the above with the below because.. well, for one obvious correlation is obvious and that furthermore predictable pattern is predictable (although it is important to note that this map measures households, while the above measures persons).



However, personally, as someone who doesn't (and can't) drive, I must admit that unless you lived in the centres of Dublin, Cork and maybe one or two other places you would have to be either mad or broke not to have a car. I suspect this map is a description of the latter for the most part, at least outside of the urban centres.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

More housing, a bit unusual this one and perhaps it will impress the Americans, anyway...



Comments?

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Remarkably dense for that.

Inner city slum clearances.