The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 may have had an impact on the trend in some of the indicators (such as emissions to air, transport and energy) in this publication.
The number of licensed vehicles in Ireland increased by 219% from 915,000 in 1985 to 2.9 million in 2022. Private cars accounted for most of this growth with an increase of over 1.5 million vehicles between 1985 and 2022.
The number of goods vehicles has increased by 317% from 93,400 in 1985 to 389,200 in 2022.
The number of public bus and coach passenger journeys in Ireland fell from 238 million in 2005 to 191 million in 2013, before rising to 228 million in 2019. The number of journeys declined to 119 million in 2021.
The number of rail passenger journeys in Ireland rose from 38 million in 2005 to 46 million in 2007. This fell to 37 million in both 2012 and 2013, before rising again to 50 million journeys in 2019. Rail passenger journeys fell sharply in 2020 to 18 million and were stable at 17 million in 2021, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The number of Luas passenger journeys increased from 22 million in 2005 to 28 million in 2007, before falling in 2008 and 2009. This figure increased in subsequent years to peak at 48 million journeys in 2019. In 2020 the number of Luas passenger journeys declined to 19.2 million, and was stable at 19.5 million in 2021, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Ireland there were 3.5 rail passenger journeys per person in 2021. Luxembourg was the EU Member State with the highest level of passenger journeys per capita at 26.1 in 2021, while Greece had the lowest level at 0.9.
| Country | Passenger journeys per capita |
|---|---|
| Luxembourg | 26.1449750287524 |
| Austria | 24.3489512199272 |
| Denmark | 22.9580422753592 |
| Germany | 21.1819775522662 |
| Sweden | 15.8478971837683 |
| France | 13.2196403010127 |
| Czechia | 12.8713778852762 |
| Portugal | 11.7206298700012 |
| Finland | 9.94055975711415 |
| Spain | 8.82937810840573 |
| Slovakia | 8.39923799141394 |
| Italy | 8.30204996393 |
| Latvia | 5.91266850233702 |
| Slovenia | 5.53016936647484 |
| Estonia | 4.56893933242511 |
| Ireland | 3.47780127694492 |
| Croatia | 3.35302519228363 |
| Romania | 2.86105442330982 |
| Bulgaria | 2.47840396683432 |
| Lithuania | 1.41217879013335 |
| Greece | 0.93916524139047 |
The number of passengers who travelled on international journeys through Irish airports fell by 15% from 38 million in 2019 to 32 million in 2022. The number of passengers travelling on international journeys to and from Irish seaports also fell by 14% from 2.5 million in 2019 to 2.1 million in 2022.
Between 1986 and 2016, the percentage of females aged 15 years or over driving to work has increased from 27% to 65%, before falling to 58% in 2022. The proportion of females travelling to work as car passengers, on foot, by bicycle and by bus, minibus and coach all fell from 1986 to 2022. In contrast the percentage of females working from home increased from 3% in 2016 to 11% in 2022.
The proportion of males aged 15 years or over driving to work increased from 42% to 53% between 1986 and 2016, before falling to 48% in 2022. The proportion of males working from home fell from 22% in 1986 to 6% in 2006, 2011 and 2016. This increased to 11% in 2022.
The proportion of new licensed private cars in Ireland using petrol fell from 90% in 2000 to 23% in 2012, before rising to 40% in 2019. By 2022 this figure had fallen to 30%. The proportion using diesel increased from 10% in 2000 to 74% in 2012, before falling to 27% in 2022.
The percentage of new licensed private cars using electric increased from 1% in 2015 to 15% in 2022.
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