Census 2006 Boundary Files

The following files can only be utilised by users who have access to software which will enable them to perform their own analysis of census data within a GIS (Geographical Information Systems) environment.

The files are in ESRI Shape (SHP) format which is a proprietary format created by the Environmental System Research Institute. The ESRI Shape (SHP) file format is a vector format. SHP files support point, multi-point, polygon, polyline and multi-patches.

The ESRI file format contains four files Main file: *.shp, Index file: *.shx , coordinate information file: *.prj and DBase file: *.dbf for each boundary in a zip folder format.

Towns and Cities

For census purposes towns fall into two types; those with and those without legally defined boundaries.

Towns with legally defined boundaries

These comprise

• the five County Cities (Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Galway);
• the five Municipal Cities (Clonmel, Drogheda, Kilkenny, Sligo and Wexford);
• the forty-nine former Urban Districts (e.g. Arklow, Athlone);
• the Local Government Act, 2001 (S.I.591 of 2001). Under this act the areas known as Urban District are now called Towns, as are the 26 towns which were formally towns under the Towns Improvement Act 1854.

Where built-up areas have extended beyond the legally defined town boundary, the CSO draws up new boundaries defining the suburban areas of Cities (formerly County Boroughs) and the environs of legal towns.

Towns without legally defined boundaries (Census Towns)

A Census Town is defined as a cluster of 50 or more occupied dwellings, not having a legally defined boundary. Census Town boundaries are determined by the CSO for census purposes only.
SAPS/boundaries are only available for towns with a population of 1,000 or more in the 2006 Census.

Census Enumeration Area Boundaries

A Census Enumeration Area (EA) represents the area/workload assigned to each enumerator. In 2006 there were an average of 330 households in the urban EAs for which SAPS are available. The boundaries of EAs change from Census to Census. EA saps are only released for the five main cities and their suburbs.

Electoral Division Boundaries

Electoral Divisions (EDs) are the smallest legally defined administrative areas in the State for which Small Area Population Statistics (SAPS) are published from the Census.

There are 3,440 legally defined EDs in the State. One ED, St. Mary's, straddles the Louth-Meath county border, and is presented in two parts in the SAPS tables, with one part in Louth and the other in Meath. There are 32 EDs with low population, which for reasons of confidentiality have been amalgamated into neighbouring EDs giving a total of 3,409 EDs which appear in the SAPS tables.

The graphic file contains the boundaries for 3,409 EDs in addition to administrative county and province boundaries. The boundaries have been smoothed in accordance with our licencing agreement with OSi Ireland. These boundaries are for general information only and any individual or organisation downloading them are required to acknowledge the terms and conditions under which they are made available.

High definition Electoral Division boundaries for all legally defined EDs may be acquired from OSi Ireland www.osi.ie.

Garda Administrative Boundaries

An Garda Siochána, for administrative purposes, divide the State into 3 levels of geographical areas:

6 Regions (Northern, Southern, Eastern, Western, South Eastern, and Dublin Metropolitan Area)

25 Divisions

109 Districts

The composition of these areas is unique to An Garda Siochána and obeys the following hierarchical structure: districts are combined to produce divisions, and divisions combined to produce regions.

The graphic files available for download contains a boundary for each of these structures and relates to the boundary that was in place at the time of Census 2006. These boundaries are for general information purposes only and are under constant review by An Garda Siochána.

Boundary Files

Click on the links below to download the shapefiles