The Mayor of Kildare, Cllr. Martin Miley launched the most up to date Census 2016 profiles of Kildare on Monday 25th June 2018. The launch was held in the new Athy Community Library in advance of the full meeting of Kildare County Council. The profile reports will inform and drive the strategic development of the county. The six distinct reports and summary document were commissioned by Kildare LCDC who worked closely with the All Island Research Observatory (AIRO), which is part of Maynooth University.
The reports, based on Census 2016, with additional supplementary data provide a range of datasets that outlines the most accurate information available on Kildare’s: a) Demographics, b) Education, c) Health, d) Housing, e) Commuting and f) Employment.
The reports are constructed in a way that enables comparisons across a range of indicators within Kildare- from village to village, town to town, Municipal District to Municipal District. They also allow comparisons between Kildare and other counties within our region and at national level.
Mayor Miley outlined that “Kildare continues to be the 5th largest county/local authority area in the country. Our population is bigger than Limerick or Dun Laoghaire Rathdown; this is not always recognised.”
“Kildare continues to be the youngest county in the country, with 36.6% of the population under the aged of 25”
Eoghan McCarthy, from AIRO, Maynooth University, then presented a short input on how the reports were collated. He also highlighted some key information emerging from the six reports which included that:
“Kildare has the 6th highest rate of outbound commuters in the State with 37,000 people leaving the county every day for work.”
The final speaker, Peter Carey, Chief Executive of Kildare County Council and Chairperson of Kildare LCDC, outlined the critical role that accurate data plays in decision making. He outlined that from its’ establishment in 2014 Kildare LCDC were determined to ensure that good quality data would be available and inform decisions. This commenced the working relationship with Maynooth University through AIRO. Mr. Carey outlined that additional services and supports have been secured in the county as a result of LCDC members, who are composed of statutory and non statutory representative use of factual data to secure resources. Mr Carey congratulated the LCDC members involved, AIRO particularly Eoghan McCarthy and his colleague Justin Gleeson. Mr Carey concluded by strongly encouraging all present to actively use the Kildare 2016 Census reports to inform decision making and resource allocation.
The reports can be downloaded on the Publications page of this website: http://www.kildarelcdc.ie/index.php/publications-links/
