Increase in daytime working population

The daytime working populations of all the five cities and their suburbs increased between 2011 and 2016.

The number of people working in Dublin city and suburbs surpassed the  half a million mark in 2016, with a daytime working population of 512,449, an increase of  9 per cent on the 2011 figure of 469,987.  Excluding mobile workers, Dublin city and suburb workers accounted for 29 per cent of the State's workforce.

Dublin city and suburbs includes the Dublin City Local Authority area along with significant parts of surrounding counties reaching to Santry, Ballymun and Clonee in Fingal, Citywest in South Dublin and Shankill in Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown.

The workforce in Cork city and suburbs increased by 10.8 per cent to 102,139 persons and in Limerick city and suburbs the workforce increased by 10.3 per cent to 44,624. Galway city and suburbs' workforce increased by 7.2 per cent to 44,376 and Waterford city and suburbs by 4.5 per cent to 24,375 workers.

These five urban areas combined accounted for 41 per cent of all daytime workplace destinations (excluding mobile workers).

Interactive table: StatBank Link E6034

Workers travelling into the cities

The daytime working population is made up of those who reside and work in the urban area and those who commute in from the surrounding areas, less those who commute elsewhere for work.

Table 4.1 presents the breakdown of the daytime working population for the five cities and their suburbs.

Dublin city and suburbs recorded an 10.9 per cent increase in the number of workers commuting from outside the urban area, rising to 130,447 from 117,764 in 2011. Twenty five per cent of Dublin workers commute from outside the city and suburbs.

The number of workers commuting in to Cork city and suburbs increased by 13.5 per cent between 2011 and 2016 and Limerick city and suburbs saw a rise of 13.1 per cent.  Over 40 per cent of workers in Cork commuted from outside the urban area.  In Limerick and Galway city and suburbs half the workforce commute from outside the  urban area.

Map 4.1 Commuter flows (inward commuters less outward) by electoral division, 2016

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Dublin workers and commuters

A total of 422,404 workers resided in Dublin city and suburbs in April 2016, an increase of 9 per cent on the 2011 figure of 388,083 workers. Of these  40,402 worked outside the urban area leaving 382,002 who both lived and worked in Dublin and its suburbs. A further 130,447 workers travelled into the city area to their place of employment resulting in a daytime working population of 512,449.

Fingal and Kildare are the top two counties, from which workers commute into Dublin city and suburbs. Twenty-two per cent of Dublin's non-resident workforce comes from each of these counties. In fact three quarters of all commuters into Dublin city and suburbs come from the the top four counties of Fingal, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow.

Perhaps reflecting the location of the airport, Fingal is the top destination county of work for Dublin city and suburbs who commute, with nearly 17,000 workers making the journey to Fingal from Dublin.

Dublin's commuter belt

Fingal

The largest feeder town to Dublin city and suburbs was Swords, nearly 8,000 of the 20,000 workers in Swords commuted to work there. Almost two thirds of this group travelled to Dublin by car, with almost another 3 in 10 using the bus. Two in five of these workers left for work between 7am and 8am and it took an average of 40 minutes to get to work. Kinsealey-Drinan also had almost two thirds of its workers commute by car to Dublin city and suburbs.

With the exception of Swords and Kinsealy-Drinan, all the other feeder towns listed were on the Dublin-Dundalk trainline. In Skerries, almost half of workers travelled by train to Dublin city and suburbs, followed by Donabate at 44 per cent. Sixty four per cent of Skerries commuters to Dublin city and suburbs left for work between 6:30am and 8am and it took on average 55 minutes to get to work. In Malahide, Balbriggan and Portmarnock each 3 in 10 of their commuters to Dublin city and suburbs travelled by train. In Rush and Lusk, whose station is situated between the two towns, less than 1 in 5 of the commuters to Dublin city and suburbs used the train.

Tables 1 - 5 present the towns of Fingal, Wicklow, Kildare, Meath and South Dublin, with the largest numbers of workers commuting to Dublin city and suburbs.

Wicklow

Nearly 6,300 workers travelled from Bray to work in Dublin city and suburbs. Sixty per cent travelled by car , 20 per cent took the train and 10 per cent used the bus. The average travel time of these commuters was 41 minutes and the average age was 41 years.

Nearly half of Greystones workers commuted to Dublin city and suburbs and 25 per cent of them travelled by train, 66 per cent travelled by car. Three quarters of these workers left before 8am and their average travel time was 50 minutes.

Almost 4 in 5 of Wicklow town's commuters to Dublin city and suburbs travelled by car. Almost 30 per cent of these left for work between 6:30 and 7am. Their average travel time was 58 minutes.

In Blessington on the other side of the county, 84 per cent of commuters into Dublin city and suburbs travelled by car. Half of these left for work before 7:30 am and the average journey time was 45 minutes.

Kildare

In Celbridge and Leixlip nearly half of workers commuted into Dublin city and suburbs. Nearly 70 per cent of the Celbridge commuters drove to Dublin city and suburbs with another 20 per cent travelling by bus. Seventy per cent of these left before 8am.

Sixty per cent of Leixlip commuters to Dublin city and suburbs travelled by car, almost 20 per cent travelled by train and another 15 per cent by bus.

Their average travel time was 41 minutes and 80 per cent of them left before 8:30 am.

Meath

Half of workers in Dunboyne and Ratoath commuted to Dublin city and suburbs to work. Nearly 8 in 10 of Navan commuters to Dublin city and suburbs travelled by car and their journey took an average of 58 mins.

In Laytown/Bettystown the lowest percentage of commuters used the car to commute to Dublin city and suburbs, at 58 per cent, with another 16 per cent using the train and 21 per cent using the bus to get to work.

South Dublin

Rathcoole had just over 1,150 workers, 57 per cent of its workforce, who commuted to Dublin city and suburbs to work, and  4 in 5 of these travelled by car. Fifty six per cent of commuters left in each of the half hours between 6:30 and 8am and it took them on average 37 minutes to get to work.

In Saggart just under 1,000 of its workers commuted to Dublin city and suburbs, 61 per cent of its workforce and of these 7 in 10 travelled by car. The average age of these commuters was 36 years.

Towns which contribute the most to Dublin's workforce

Working in Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford

Daytime Working Population of Cork

The daytime working population of Cork city and suburbs exceeded the 100,000 mark in April 2016. Of those 60,706 resided and worked the area and they were joined by 41,433 workers who travelled into the city and suburbs to work. Seventeen per cent (12,045) of workers who resided in Cork city and suburbs, travelled outside the area to their place of work.

The majority of those who commuted into the city and suburbs came from Cork county (91%), followed by Waterford City and County (2%) and Kerry (2%).

Of the six towns which were the major contributors of workers commuted into Cork city and suburbs, Carrigaline was the largest at 3,369 workers. Cobh (1,961), Midleton (1,814), Passage West (1,453), Carrigtwohill (1,216) and Mallow (1,060) contributed a signficant number of workers.

Limerick's Daytime Working Population

After Dublin and Cork, Limerick city and suburbs overtook Galway as the State's third largest daytime working population in 2016.

A total of 28,545 workers lived within Limerick city and suburbs, of which 6,637 (23%) left to work elsewhere, a further 22,716 commuted into the city and suburbs, which brought the total daytime working population to 44,624. 

Limerick county (11,378) was the main source of workers to Limerick city and suburbs, followed by Clare (5,553) and Tipperary North (2,542).

Annacrotty was the main feeder town for Limerick city and suburbs (743), followed by Castleconnell (400), Ballina (355), Newport (318) and Ardnacrusha (302).

Daytime Working Population of Galway

In Galway the daytime working population of its city and suburbs was 44,376. This was made up of 22,271 residents who worked in the area, 22,105 commuters who journeyed into Galway, while 5,571 (20%) residents travelled outside the city and suburbs for work.

Of the 22,105 commuters into Galway city and suburbs, 86 per cent lived in Galway county, with 6 per cent in Mayo and 2 per cent in Clare.

Oranmore provided the largest number of commuters into Galway city and suburbs (1,190) followed by Tuam (675), Athenry (658), Bearna (491) and Loughrea (483).

Waterford's Daytime Working Population

Waterford city and suburbs remained the fifth largest location for employment in the State in April 2016. Of the 16,610 workers who resided in the city, 3,509 (21%) had jobs elsewhere, while 11,274 workers travelled into the city and suburbs for work, which brought the daytime working population to 24,375 persons.

Just over half (52%) of Waterford's commuters into the city and suburbs came from Waterford county (5,807) with 27 per cent from Kilkenny (2,994) and 10 per cent from Wexford (1,145).

Tramore contributed the highest number of workers to the Waterford workforce, with Dunmore East (303), Portlaw (265) and Passage East (144) the other main contributors.

Map 4.2 Feeder Towns into each city, 2016

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Map 4.3 Catchment areas of major workplace locations, 2016

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Cross Border Commuters 

Census 2016 recorded 9,336 people who crossed the border for work and school, a decrease of 2.1 per cent on the 2011 figure of 9,536. Workers made up three quarters, 7,037 of commuters, up 10%, while students accounted for the remainder (2,299 down 26%). Donegal accounted for the largest number of cross border commuters, with 5,600 commuters,  76 per cent of whom travelled to Co. Derry.

As expected the counties of Monaghan (1,112), Louth (926) and Cavan (493) also had substantial numbers who crossed the border to work and school.

The most frequent destination of commuters across the border was Co. Derry with over 4,320 commuters who stated this as their commuting destination. Just over 1,200 commuters travelled to County Tyrone, with just over a 1,000 travelling to County Armagh.

Table 4.7 shows the top six origin and destinations of Cross Border Workers and students.

 

Map 4.4 Persons commuting from Ireland to Northern Ireland to work or study by electoral division/ward, 2016

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Overseas Place of Work

A total of 3,531 people stated on the 2016 Census form that their place of work was outside the island of Ireland. The most popular overseas working destination was Great Britain; 2,144 commuted to England, Scotland and Wales with a further 1,387 commuting elsewhere in the world.