Galway has the highest number of Travellers

There are more Travellers living in County Galway than anywhere else in the , according to Census 2016 results.

Preliminary statistics published this week show that on Census night in April last year, there were 2,640 Travellers – who are usually resident in the State – living in County Galway. That figure is up around 7% from the 2,475 Travellers in the county for the 2011 Census. Meanwhile, in Galway City, there were 1,606 recorded in the Census, down around 2% from the 1,666 five years earlier.

In the county, 2,190 were in permanent private accommodation (up from 2,131 five years earlier) and 312 in temporary private accommodation (up from 245).

In the city, 1,417 were in private accommodation (down from 1,471) and 72 in temporary accommodation (down from 102).

A breakdown of the figures for the county shows that 1,301 were male and 1,339 female, while in the city, 790 were male and 816 female. For Ireland as a whole, there were 30,987 Travellers here on Census night – up 5% from the 29,495 recorded five years earlier.

South Dublin had the second-highest number of Travellers at 2,200 (down from 2,216), followed by Dublin City at 2,080 (up from 1,923) and Limerick City and County at 1,659 (up from 1,514).

The lowest numbers recorded were in Leitrim (203, down from 264); Monaghan (276, up from 249) and Sligo (386, down from 417).

While County Galway has the highest volume of Travellers in real terms, Longford at 25.7 per 1,000 population, has the highest proportion of Travellers anywhere in the State. Galway City comes in at 21.2 and County Galway at 14.9, followed by Offaly (11.7) and Westmeath (11.4).

The lowest proportions per 1,000 population were in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown (1.9), Cork County (3) and Kildare (3.4).