County ‘punching above its weight’ in job creation as population hits 64,000

POPULATION growth, over 90% employment and a county that is “very entrepreneurial” and “punching above its weight in terms of job creation”.

Co Carlow enjoyed a very positive bill of health in a presentation on the most recent CSO figures at last week’s meeting of Carlow County Council by Justin Gleeson of People in Place Consultants. The socio-economic profile of the county contained lots of good news, but it wasn’t without its challenges for the future, including the demographic profile of the county and a rise in Carlow’s age profile, showing15% of the county is now aged over 65.

This figure for Co Carlow is very much in line with the rest of the country with a much older population, which is growing. This is predicted to impact significantly on social policy and services into the future.

Mr Gleeson also indicated that while there have been some improvements in overall deprivation scores across the county since 2016, some areas of disadvantage still remain. Co Carlow ranks as the 11th most disadvantaged settlement in the country.

Mr Gleeson went through the figures for Co Carlow, which has a population of 64,000 – an increase of 1.2% on 2016, with the increases mainly experienced in the northern parts of the county in Carlow town and Tullow. Carlow town experienced a 12% growth from 2016 to 2022 and is now ranked the 12th largest settlement in the country.

Mr Gleeson stated that conservative estimates indicated that Co Carlow will reach a population of 70,000 by 2035, with the county growing at a faster rate than many other areas of the country.

Economically, Mr Gleeson described the county as “in good shape”, with 26,792 persons in the labour force at work (over 90%), a 20% increase on the previous census. The largest number work in professional services, with commerce and trade and manufacturing industries also big employers locally.

Approximately 7,000 people leave the county every day for work, mainly to Dublin or neighbouring counties, with almost 20,000 working within the county.

Almost 38% of the county’s residents own their own home, with 27% of households owned with mortgage/loan and the remainder HAP (housing assistance payments)/rental properties.

Just under 7,000 non-Irish people are living in the county, the largest being Polish, followed by citizens of the UK. Just over 1,500 Ukrainians were living in the county as of June 2024.

Members welcomed the data and the information provided, and agreed that it was very useful in terms of shaping policy into the future.

Cllr Ben Ward remarked that 17% in the county avail of HAP, which was public money going into the private housing sector, and that a far better use of the funding would be the building of social and affordable housing. Cllr Ken Murnane described HAP as “ a necessary evil”.

“If we didn’t have it, we’d have families living in tents,” he said.

Mr Gleeson agreed that HAP was “absolutely necessary to assist people”, adding that there were affordability issues in terms of building houses.

Cllr Michael Doran also raised challenges posed by the lack of infrastructure in some areas, which halted construction, and this problem often lay with Irish Water and the ESB.

Cllr Tommy Kinsella remarked that Co Carlow was doing “better than average” when it came to state jobs, which Mr Gleeson agreed with, describing the county as “punching above its weight in terms of job creation”.

“It is a very entrepreneurial county,” he said, adding that a supportive and committed LEO office was instrumental in that.

In terms of the areas of concern, Mr Gleeson stated that areas of disadvantage were identified in Carlow town, Tullow and in rural aeras. He said that disadvantage did not always mean poverty but was broader than that, including a rural area’s sustainability and population projection.

He added that an aging population also presented issues, such as access to health centres and GP services, the prevalence of older housing, the reliance on fossil fuels for heating and rural isolation.