Press Statement

Preasráiteas

26 February 2019

Go to release: Regional SDGs Ireland 2017

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (26 February 2019) published Regional SDGs Ireland 2017, containing 70 indicators on regional life in Ireland. This 2017 report, (the third in the series), has been re-ordered in line with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of global development targets adopted by the United Nations (UN) member countries in September 2015.

Commenting on the report, Helen Cahill, Statistician, said: “Just over one in six Irish drivers had penalty points (17.7%) in December 2017. Wexford (21.5%), Galway (20.5%) and Kildare (20.4%) had the highest proportions of drivers with penalty points. The lowest rates were in Donegal at 12.9%, Louth at 13.6% and Leitrim at 14.3%.

Nationally seven out of every ten private households (70.7%) had broadband access in 2016. Leitrim had the lowest rate of access at 58% while Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown had the highest at 86%.

The fertility rate in Ireland was 1.81 in 2016, below the replacement level of 2.1, but varied around the country. The highest rates were 2.25 in Longford and 2.21 in both Cavan and Waterford County. The four lowest fertility rates were all in city areas – Dublin City (1.46), Cork City (1.50), Galway City (1.60) and Waterford City (1.61).

Peat (including turf) was used for central heating by only 5.3% of Irish households but was used extensively in Offaly (37.9% of households) and in Roscommon (26.6%).

Commuters from the Mid-East, Midlands and Dublin were more likely to leave for work by 7.30am. Nearly 39% of workers in the Mid-East and about 32% in the Midlands and Dublin started their journey to work by 7.30am compared to 26% of commuters in the Border region.

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