Friday, December 13, 2013
It Baggins again…
To McKellen back with Hobbit star »p23
Can Dublin cope with population explosion?
Just Pope-ing in
Rugby commentator Brent Pope and popular seasonal visitor Santa Claus arrive on the Santa Express to light the Walk In My Shoes Christmas Tree at Dublin’s Docklands for Saint Patrick’s mental health services. The Airtricity Dublin Docklands Christmas Festival runs until December 23 at Saint George’s Dock, including food and craft stalls, a Victorian fairground, theatre and, of course, Santa’s Grotto. See dublindocklandschristmasfestival.ie Picture: marc o’sullivan
GRAFTON STREET & STEPHEN’S GREEN CENTRE
GET YOUR CHRISTMAS ON!
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DUBLIN’S population could reach 1.6 million over the next two decades, further stretching the capital’s transport, social and housing infrastructure. New data shows that the capital is expected to grow by 96,000 to 286,000 over the next 20 years, but that this figure could reach as high as 400,000 if internal migration returns to patterns seen in the mid-1990s. The scale of the expected population growth was set out by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) in its latest regional population projections. In its report, the CSO said the rapid increase was based on birth and death levels across the country and the potential of people moving from one area to another between 2016 and 2031. Results from the 2011 Census showed a change from patterns
By DaviD KEarns
observed in 2002 and 2006 when Dublin witnessed a large outflow of people into the neighbouring regions. This is now reversed, while the total number of people moving to other regions fell by more than 22,000 between 2006 and 2011. In detailing its report, the CSO stressed that it was not ‘attempt-
Older population to double in 18yrs ing to predict the future’ but rather that its work was based on trends in internal and external migration and current fertility rates. Addressing the issue of impact on services, Dublin City Coun-
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cil said that such growth would require careful policy planning in all areas, including pensions, health and care services, and housing. ‘The demographic trends in evidence in this report point to the need to carefully plan the distribution of future growth, thereby creating sustainable cities and towns, and how to best to manage societal needs in the future,’ it said. The CSO population projections are, in part, based on the assumption that Ireland’s older population will almost double in the next 18 years as life expectancy rates rise. It is predicting a rise of about five years by 2031, with women living until 87 and men to 83, and said that this alone could increase the population of Dublin by up to 20,100 each year.
THIS WEEK ONLY
Keep Dublin tidy – Please recycle this Metro Herald when you are finished with it