Mayo population shrinks, dramatic rise in ‘non religious’

Anton McNulty

The 2016 Census results show that Mayo is one of only two counties to see population drops since 2011 figures. The number of Irish speakers in Gaeltacht areas and Roman Catholics has also fallen, while the number of those who see themselves as having no religion has risen dramatically.
The results of the 2016 Census shows that while the population of the State increased over the previous five years by 3.8 percent to 4,761,865, Mayo’s population dropped by 0.1 percent to 130,507. Co Donegal saw its population shrink by 1.2 percent to 159,192.
The population of Connacht overall increased by 1.5 percent since 2011, and now makes up makes up 11.6 percent of the total number of people living in the State. Galway City saw its population increase by 4.2 percent; Galway county rose by 2.4 percent.
Unsurprisingly, the main increases of population took place on the eastern seaboard, with 62,552 more people now living Dublin City and its suburbs – an increase of 5.6 percent since 2011. The populations of Meath and Laois increased by 5.9 and 5.1 percent respectively, while Leinster’s population grew by 5.2 percent.

Losing religion
The number of people stating they are of ‘no religion’ increased by a massive 52.3 percent since 2011 with the figure now at 7,604. The Roman Catholic population has decreased by 4,240 to 113,481 – a fall of 3.6 percent.
The Church of Ireland population increased by 46 to 2,739, while Presbyterian numbers increased by 16 to 347. People who stated ‘other religion’ now number 4,400, an increase of 25.2 percent.
The martial status of the county’s population shows that 65,426 are classified as single, 50586 are married, 1,693 are remarried, 3,158 are separated, 2,784 are divorced, 6,794 are widowed, while 66 are registered as having had a same sex civil partnership.

Language crisis
The 2016 Census also revealed that of the 10,072 people living in the Mayo Gaeltacht just 61.9 percent were Irish speakers —a decrease from 64.1 percent in 2011.
Mayo’s Gaeltacht areas are parts of Achill, Erris and Tourmakeady. The general population of the Mayo Gaeltacht has fallen by 487. A total of 6,121 people in Gaeltacht areas stated they could speak Irish, but just 740 people inside the Mayo Gaeltacht stated they spoke Irish daily outside the education system.
In light of the Census figures, Conradh na Gaeilge is seeking an emergency meeting with An Taoiseach to discuss the results, which it says is creating a crisis in Gaeltacht areas.
“It is clear that the implementation of the Government’s 20 Year Strategy for the Irish Language is not succeeding, and that the main reason for this failure is the Irish Government’s lack of investment in the Strategy since 2010,” said Niall Comer, President of Conradh na Gaeilge.
“The result of this lack of investment is a crisis in the Gaeltacht. When Government embarks on a new strategy in any other sector, as was done recently with rural development, an assessment is made of the resources necessary to implement the strategy and an extra budget is provided. The 20 Year Strategy for the Irish Language was hobbled from the beginning because no extra resources were made available,” he said.
The Census also showed that 11,234 people in Mayo spoke a language other than English or Irish, with Polish now spoken by 3,155 people in Mayo.