Quality of Life report highlights urban/rural divide

Quality of Life report highlights urban/rural divide



Analysis
Ciara Moynihan
ciaramoynihan@mayonews.ie

A NEW Central Statistics Office report has revealed some interesting regional trends and the way in which location can impact lifestyle.
The CSO’s Regional Quality of Life in Ireland 2013 report, released last week, is the second report of its kind that has been produced in Ireland (the first was released in 2008). Topics covered include population, housing, lifestyles, transport and travel, health and care, education, economy and environment, with interesting differences across regions and counties emerging.  The report is based on several national data sources, including census data and Government Department reports, available up to spring 2013.   

Mayo low on penalty points
As was widely reported, the report showed that Mayo boasts the least amount of drivers with penalty points – 13 percent – while Kildare has the highest (23 percent). Whether this is down to particularly careful Mayo drivers or potholed roads and hairpin bends that force a slower driving speed is open to debate.
In 2012, over half of the country’s Blue Flag beaches were in Mayo, Donegal, Cork and Kerry – with Mayo, neck and neck at the top with Donegal and Kerry, each of which contained 13. Last week’s news of the loss of the Blue Flag at Old Head Beach, Louisburgh, stings perhaps a little bit more in that light.
In 2011, the Dublin region unsurprisingly had the highest population density with 1,378 persons per crammed square kilometre. The density of the total Dublin and Mid-East regions together was 260 persons per kilometre. In comparison, it’s positively roomy here in the west: The region has the lowest density of 33 persons per square kilometre.
Co Mayo has the highest proportion of the countywide population aged 65 and over in 2011 – Mayo 15 percent; Leitrim 14.8 percent and Roscommon 14.7 percent. Of the 130,600 people living in Co Mayo, 20.9 percent are aged 0-14; 11.5 percent are 15-24; 26.9 percent are 25-44; 25.8 percent are 45-65 and 15 percent are over 65.
When it comes to social class, the report groups populations by occupation category. While 15 percent of the relatively affluent Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown constituency fell into the ‘professional workers’ category in 2011, just 5.3 percent of those living in Co Mayo were categorised professional workers. Monaghan is home to the least professional workers (4.4 percent).
Almost one in four (24.9 percent) of the Mayo population is classed as ‘Managerial & technical’. ‘Non-manual’ describes 17.7 percent of the county’s population; ‘Skilled manual’  17.1l percent; ‘Semi-skilled’ 12.7 percent; and ‘Unskilled and other’ 22.3 percent.  

66 percent have computers
The rather unfortunately named category of ‘PC Ownership and Internet Access’ reveals that 66 percent of Mayo households now have computers (assuming Macs are, confusingly, being considered PCs), while just over half (55 percent) have broadband access – not bad, until you consider that close to three-quarters (72.8 percent) of households in Dublin have access to the service.   
Still, before you get too envious, Dublin metropolitan accounted for the vast bulk of crime offences between 2005 and 2010. Theft was the third-highest recorded crime offence, with the highest rate of 28.6 per 1,000 population being recorded in the Dublin Metropolitan Garda region. Road and traffic offences and dangerous and negligent acts were by far the most common recorded crime offences across all Garda regions.
Mayo was found to have the highest percentage (5 percent) of carers in the land, with 44.9 percent of those carers providing 1-14 hours of unpaid care work a week; 27.2 percent providing 15-42 hours; and 27.9 providing 43 hours or more.

Low pupil to school ratio
In 2012, there were 3,159 primary schools nation-wide, ranging from 495 in the
Border region to 245 in the Midland region. The average number of primary pupils per school was 160.2 in 2012. The West region (99.3) had the smallest schools on average while the Dublin region (280) had the largest. Mayo was one of the counties with the lowest pupil to school ratio, with just four counties having a pupil to school ratio of less than 100: Roscommon (76.6), Mayo (84.4), Leitrim (86.1) and Galway County (99.7). Three areas had a ratio above 300: Fingal (353.3), South Dublin (332.3) and Waterford City (315.6). In 2012, the West region had the smallest primary school average class size of 22.6, while the Mid-East (26.1) had the largest. The national average was 24.4.
In 2010, disposable income per person in the Dublin region, at €21,515, was 11.4 percent above the national average of €19,318. But before you think that means Dubliners have around €21,000 a year to fritter away on G&Ts and gourmet restaurants, the CSO defines disposable income as any salary after tax and contributions, such as social insurance contributions. So that €21k must cover rent/mortgage, bills, food, clothing etc.  
All other regions were below the national disposable-income average, with the Midland region 11.3 percent below, at just €17,133. Mayo’s average disposable income, while not the lowest, came in at just €17,818.

HAVE YOUR SAY email ciaramoynihan@mayonews.ie with your comments