Women have the edge over men in Census!
THE 2016 Census showed that women continue to outnumber their male counterparts, with the Louth population now 50.6% female compared to 49.4% male.
There are 64,921 women and 63,454 men living in Louth as of April 2011.
Meanwhile, the average annual birth rate in Louth was 14.8 (per 1,0000 of population.
The average annual rate of deaths per 1,000 was 6.0%
The 2016 census figures showed the net migration for Louth was minus 101.
One of the major issues covered by the Census was housing.
The latest figures showed that while there was a 3.5% increase in the number of households in the county, the number of vacant dwellings down by 21.9%.
The total housing stock in Louth was reported as 51,782, up just marginally from the 2011 figure - 51,342.
Louth’s vacancy rate now stands at 9.7%, which is among the ten lowest in the country.
There were just over 5,000 vacant houses highlighted in the 2016 census, whereas five years ago 6,232 houses were said to be empty.
Louth TD Declan Breathnach called on Minister Simon Coveney to address the shortfall in social housing by utilising the large number of vacant units currently in Ireland.
Deputy Breathnach said, The preliminary 2016 census results show that there are 5,005 vacant units in Co. Louth alone. In January 1992 and again in 2015 I brought a motion to Louth County Council with fellow Councillor Peter Savage to help facilitate this.
‘ The plan involved financing the refurbishment of the vacant units to a habitable condition which would cost far less than the building of new units.
‘ The plan would see the introduction of a graduated grant scheme which would be available wto the owners of these units to carry out the necessary works. The grants would be available in varying degrees in return for the houses being leased to the Council for social housing.’
Meanwhile, Louth TD Gerry Adams said the populations increase ‘means that in planning the allocation of health, education, housing and other resources into the constituency there has to be increased funding.’
‘We already know that our ageing population is contributing to higher numbers of patients in our emergency departments. The government’s failure to take account of this demographic trend when planning means our most vulnerable citizens, our young, our aged and disabled are not receiving the care they need.’