The Irish Times view on Ireland's rising population: a landmark moment
According to a joint analysis by the Central Statistics Office and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, the population of the island grew by 26 per cent between 2002 and 2022. That growth has been uneven: the Republic's population surged by 31 per cent, while Northern Ireland's grew by a more modest 13 per cent. The Republic now stands at just over 5.1 million people, the North at 1.9 million.
These differences reveal diverging social, economic, and migratory trends. In the Republic, immigration has played a transformative role. Northern Ireland has seen slower growth, with a markedly older demographic profile. Racial and ethnic diversity has also grown more markedly south of the Border. These demographic shifts, while bringing new vibrancy and diversity, also demand inclusive policy planning, especially in education, housing and public services.
Nowhere is the impact of this growth felt more acutely than in housing. In the Republic, over two million permanent dwellings exist but more than 240,000 are officially listed as unoccupied, a figure long disputed and still in need of closer scrutiny. Meanwhile, fewer than one in 10 homes are provided by local authorities or voluntary housing bodies, far below the North's 15 per cent.
READ MORE
The story has a spatial dimension, with some areas – Fingal in north Dublin, Castlereagh in Co Down – experiencing rapid growth while parts of Donegal and north Antrim stagnate. Managing these imbalances requires all-island strategies.
The challenges ahead in housing, transport, healthcare, education, integration and sustainability cannot be resolved in silos. Too often, the island's two jurisdictions have approached common problems in parallel, sometimes at cross-purposes. The pressures of demographic expansion demand deeper co-ordination.
Infrastructure, in particular, cries out for harmonisation. From the Derry-Donegal corridor to cross-border public transport, digital connectivity and energy networks, the case for North-South alignment is pragmatic, not political. Effective planning rooted in shared data and shared goals is the best defence against fragmentation and waste.
Ireland has turned a demographic corner, returning to a population last seen before the trauma of the 1840s. The opportunity is clear; so too is the responsibility to meet the moment together.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
5 hours ago
- Irish Times
After the Train: Irishwomen united – a book to be passed down the generations, with future cultural insurgency in mind
After the Train: Irishwomen United and a Network of Change Author : Evelyn Conlon and Rebecca Pelan editors ISBN-13 : 978-1068502309 Publisher : UCD Press Guideline Price : €30 From 1975 to 1977, Irishwomen United (IWU) – and the culture of change it generated – radically fed into the emancipation of Irish society that led to 2018's referendum to lift the constitutional abortion ban. In their deeds and words, IWU threw off much of the misogynistic, theocratic, social and mind control that was so oppressively exerted from 1922 with the formation of the postcolonial Irish 'Free' State. 'Lest they forget,' and as a blueprint for ongoing social justice transformation, After the Train has been durably designed and produced to weather many decades of reading and rereading: to be passed from hand to hand, and down the generations, with future cultural insurgency in mind. The 'train' of the title refers to the Irish Women's Liberation Movement 1971 stunt of bringing contraceptives from Belfast to Dublin's Connolly Station; a spark of civil disobedience which the IWU took up again in 1976 with its aptly named CAP (Contraception Action Programme). CAP openly and illegally distributed contraception, enacting the principle that women's control of their own fertility is the bedrock of female equality. Reading how inferior women's social and legal status was in Ireland in the early 1970s compared to now demonstrates the far-reaching impact of IWU and its cultural offshoots. Contributor Anne Speed writes: 'A wife was officially the property of her husband; rape was legal in marriage; contraceptives were banned since 1935; divorce was unconstitutional; a woman could not sit on juries; by law, children's allowances were paid to the husband, and it was legal to pay women less than men for the same job.' READ MORE IWU seized the narrative through the development of feminist publishing; set up organisations to tackle rape, the abortion ban and the plight of single mothers; and lobbied powerfully to affect equality through law reform and the trade union movement. [ From the archive: A history of Irish women in 50 objects Opens in new window ] Here's reader testimony to the revolutionary power of this skilfully edited collection: as the mother of a disabled adult son, I'm at the coalface of human rights travesties that have barely begun to be recognised as such by wider Irish society. My desire for disabled people's self-determination, inclusion and equality, and my understanding of how these might be achieved, feel turbocharged with After the Train on my shelf and in my heart.
Irish Times
5 hours ago
- Irish Times
Will the Government really put McDonald's ahead of children in poverty?
With billions flowing into the Government's coffers from our corporation tax bonanza, there were some big winners from last year's pre-election budget. Among the biggest were the children of wealthy parents. While CSO statistics show that an average person receives about €100,000 in gifts or inheritances from their parents over a lifetime, Budget 2025 announced a €25,000 tax cut for the tiny fraction who receive more than €400,000. Such giveaways contrast sharply with below-inflation increases to most social welfare payments over recent years. This has left core rates of payments worth less today than they were in January 2020: a remarkable situation given the strength of economic growth and the tens of billions in new spending announced. These real-terms cuts have contributed to stagnating incomes for the poorest households as well as stubbornly persistent levels of child poverty. READ MORE Research published by the ESRI in partnership with Community Foundation Ireland has shown that 250,000 children live in households below the poverty line after accounting for housing costs: more than one in five children. A wealth of evidence shows this has enormous economic and social costs , with a lack of adequate resources compromising the ability of children to grow and thrive, even in adulthood. The importance of reducing child poverty has been recognised by successive governments, with ambitious targets set out in various plans, strategies and roadmaps since 1997. However, we have seen no real progress for the best part of two decades. Shockingly, the share of children below the poverty line after housing costs is no lower than during the worst years of the financial crisis. The reason child poverty persists is that whenever the opportunity comes to translate words into action there is always some higher priority. This year that higher priority looks to be the hospitality sector, which has engaged in a sustained, well-funded lobbying campaign for even more preferential VAT treatment than it currently enjoys. VAT is currently levied on accommodation, catering and restaurant services at a reduced rate of 13.5 per cent, compared with the standard rate of 23 per cent. Estimates by Revenue suggest this amounts to a tax relief of almost €2 billion per year. Cutting the rate further to 9 per cent would cost more than €800 million more a year, sucking up most of the space available for new measures in the forthcoming budget. This is despite the fact the sector is – by any objective measure – doing well. CSO data shows that hospitality employment was 7 per cent higher in the first quarter of 2025 than a year earlier, while figures from the Companies Registration Office show there were 11 new companies incorporated for every liquidation in the sector. Even if the sector were struggling, a VAT cut makes little economic sense. Rather than supporting struggling small restaurants or cafes, the biggest beneficiaries would be large operators with the highest turnover. On what grounds can a multimillion-euro tax cut for outlets such as McDonald's possibly be justified? Yet the Tánaiste's recent elevation of this expensive and economically illiterate tax cut to a 'solemn commitment' would seem to place it ahead of all other promises in the programme for government. This includes a pledge to 'lift more children out of poverty, giving them the futures they deserve'. Doing so would have immense benefits, but unavoidably requires spending money. The most effective way of spending this money is to introduce a second-tier of child benefit. This would leave the current universal child benefit payment as it stands but give an additional amount to lower-income families with children, replacing the inadequate patchwork of existing supports. Recent estimates from the ESRI suggest such a reform would reduce child poverty by more than a quarter. This amounts to lifting more than 50,000 children out of poverty at a cost of €772 million. While substantial, this cost is about a quarter of achieving the same reduction by increasing the universal child benefit payment. Strikingly, it is also less than that of the planned cut to VAT for the hospitality sector. This is the reason a second tier of child benefit has been called for since 2007 by a range of expert bodies, including the last government's Commission on Taxation and Welfare (which I was part of). A second tier of child benefit would mirror reforms implemented in the UK over the 2000s by then chancellor Gordon Brown. Writing in these pages last year, he described the approach as a 'progressive universalism' that ensures 'a floor of basic social rights for all, but with more support for those who need it most'. When Brown gave a keynote address to the Irish Government's inaugural Child Poverty Summit last year, he was introduced by then taoiseach Simon Harris, who declared that 'ending child poverty is a defining challenge for any leader' . After 20 years without progress in reducing – let alone ending – child poverty, it is a challenge our leaders are failing. Whether that failure defines their legacies depends on the decisions they take in the coming budgets. Dr Barra Roantree is director of the MSc in economic policy at Trinity College Dublin
Irish Times
6 hours ago
- Irish Times
Aontú has held talks with two high-profile people on presidency but won't divulge their names
Aontú has held talks with two high-profile people who may be interested in running in the presidential election later this year, party leader Peadar Tóibín has said. The Meath West TD said on Friday that the party, which holds two Dáil seats, had spoken to 'two people who are really well recognised' about the possibility. However, he refused to name either would-be candidate, saying he needed to respect their privacy and the private nature of the conversations held to date. Mr Tóibín said neither person was aligned with any political party, but they would both make outstanding candidates. READ MORE While neither person aligned fully with the views of his party, he suggested they could potentially secure the support of several parties or groups. 'Some views we share, some views we are not on the same page,' Mr Tóibin said. 'They are both making up their minds about taking it forward. I expect the decision to be made at the end of next week, or shortly afterwards.' The Aontú leader said he strongly believed in the importance of having a robust and engaged presidential election campaign. 'The President is a very important position in the State. It is very healthy to have a good debate about what the values we expect the holder of the office to hold,' he said. Fine Gael MEP for Ireland South Seán Kelly said he was '50-50' on deciding whether or not to seek a nomination from his party. He said he would make his mind up over the next week. Saying his intentions have varied from day to day, the former GAA president added: 'A lot of people are encouraging me, and I'm looking at the various options and what's involved in it.' Asked if he would be prepared for a robust campaign involving personalised criticism, Mr Kelly said in his time at the GAA they were trying to open Croke Park to other sports 'and we got a lot of stick over it'. 'If you go for something, you have to be able to take the rough with the smooth and just get out if you can't.' Asked for a response to an Irish Times report on his Fine Gael colleague Mairead McGuinness's office allowances when she was an MEP , he said he would never comment on another politician's situation. Earlier, Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary ruled out a bid for the presidency, calling it 'the most useless, valueless, wasteful job'. He said he would be 'happy to endorse' Ms McGuinness if she was to launch a campaign. 'I think she's been a terrific success on the European stage, both as an MEP, vice-president of the European Parliament and a European Commissioner,' he told RTÉ's Claire Byrne Show. Mr O'Leary said he has 'absolutely not' been asked to run for the Áras, adding that 'it sure as hell wouldn't be me'. 'I have a useful, valuable job here in Ryanair,' he said. Independent Senator Aubrey McCarthy, the founder of the Tiglin charity, said he has not been in talks with any party. However, he said there have been approaches from members of parties for 'broad conversations' about the presidency, with some expressing the view that he might appeal to a wider base. It is understood that the Independent Minister of State Michael Healy-Rae was mentioned at a meeting of Independent parliamentarians as a possible candidate. When asked about this on Friday, the Kerry TD said he was not aware of the meeting and had no knowledge of the conversation and its context.
