Ireland's UN SDGs - Goal 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities 2021

Domestic Building Energy Rating

The CSO produce data on Domestic Building Energy Ratings.  A Building Energy Rating (BER) is an indication of the energy performance of a dwelling.  Characteristics such as the age and building type of a dwelling greatly influence a BER rating.  Older detached houses are much less energy-efficient than new middle-floor apartments. 

Figure 4.1 shows the proportion of "G" rated dwellings in each Dublin postal district and the average age of the dwellings that have had a BER audit completed.  For further information, see the CSO quarterly statistical release on Building Energy Rating.

Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage

Data on Homelessness are published on the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage website.

Official homelessness data is produced by local authorities through the Pathway Accommodation and Support System (PASS).  PASS was rolled-out nationally during the course of 2013.

PASS has data on people in State funded emergency accommodation, which is overseen by local authorities.  For example data on domestic violence refuges is available through Tusla Child and Family Agency.  Data on asylum seekers accommodated in Direct Provision is available from the International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS).

The lead local authorities for homelessness in each region provide monthly reports on homelessness which identify the number of people utilising State-funded emergency accommodation on a regional and county basis.

There were 8,914 people (6,463 adults and 2,451 children) homeless and living in emergency accommodation in December 2021, an increase of 8.7% from December 2020. 

There were more homeless male adults (4,434) than females (2,029).  See Table 4.3. 

The highest number of homeless adults by age group was 3,550 aged 25-44 years while the lowest was 127 for those aged 65 years and over.  See Table 4.4.

The number of homeless families rose by 11% in the year to December 2021, from 970 to 1,077  See Table 4.5.

This data is sourced from the December 2021 edition of the Monthly Homelessness Report, published by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

There were 4,486 adults using emergency accommodation managed by a local authority in Dublin in December 2021, ten times higher than the Cork figure of 438 adults.  See Map 4.1 and Table 8.2 in the Background Notes.

Note on Map 4.1 Data:
1. The number of homeless adults shown in Map 4.1 for each of the following counties is the average for the counties combined:
    Laois/Longford (average of both counties);
    Louth/Monaghan/Cavan (average of the three counties);
    Donegal/Leitrim (average of both counties);
    Mayo/Roscommon (average of both counties).
2. Where fewer than ten individuals are recorded in a county, data are aggregated in line with best practice described in the Irish Statistical System Code of Practice (ISSCOP).

Data presented in Map 4.1 is in Table 8.2 in the Background Notes.

Monitoring Adequate Housing in Ireland

Monitoring Adequate Housing in Ireland was published jointly on 14 September, 2021 by The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).  It is the tenth and final report in a series of publications as part of the Research Programme on Human Rights and Equality.

Extracts from the Press Release are provided in this section.

In March 2021, 5,894 adults were availing of homeless services, including 913 families who had 2,166 dependents.  In 2020, there were 61,880 households on the waiting list for social housing and in 2019, there were over 91,600 people in receipt of government benefits to cover housing costs (HAP, Rent Supplement or RAS).

The right to adequate housing is a key element of international human rights agreements that Ireland has signed up to.  The report looks at six dimensions of housing adequacy - accessibility, affordability, security of tenure, cultural adequacy, quality, and location.  It develops a tool to monitor adequate housing, by identifying indicators for measuring progress.  It also provides baseline figures on the housing situation of a range of social groups before, or in the early part of, the COVID-19 pandemic.

The research analyses a range of national datasets and included a consultation process with 30 stakeholders representing a wide range of organisations and groups.

Key findings include:

• Lone parents significantly affected: Less than 25% of lone parents reported home-ownership, compared with 70% of total population.  Lone parents had higher rates of affordability issues (19%) when compared to the general population (5%) and were particularly vulnerable to housing quality problems such as damp and lack of central heating (32% compared to 22% of total population).
• Overcrowding: Ethnic minority groups had a significantly higher risk of over-crowding.  Over 35% of Asian/Asian Irish, 39% of travellers and over 40% of black/black Irish live in over-crowded accommodation, compared to 6% of the total population.
• Migrant impacts: 48% of migrants live in the private rental sector but just 9% of those born in Ireland live in the private rental sector.  Migrants, specifically those from Eastern Europe (28%) and non-EU countries (27%), are more likely to live in over-crowded conditions.
• Disability and housing quality: 29% of persons living with a disability experience housing quality issues, when compared to those without a disability (21%).  People with a disability are also more likely to report an inability to keep their home warm and arrears on rent or mortgage payments.
• Homelessness: The continuing problem of homelessness highlights a very disadvantaged section of the community for whom the most basic measure of adequate housing as envisaged under international human rights agreements is not being met.

Key challenges identified in the study include:

• COVID-19 and homelessness: There remains a real risk that levels of homelessness will rise following the lifting of pandemic protections and due to the restriction on construction activity which limited housing supply.  Homeless figures also exclude those in ‘hidden homeless’ living situations – those staying with friends or family, ‘sofa surfing’, or those who are not interacting with homeless services.
• Rents rising faster than wages: Despite the introduction of Rent Pressure Zones in late 2016, rents have increased by almost 40% in Dublin and 20% elsewhere, since 2007.  Rental costs have risen at a faster rate than mean earnings in Dublin and elsewhere.  In 2020, mean monthly rent in Ireland was estimated to be 31% of mean monthly earnings.
• Use of private rental accommodation: The policy shift to housing those with housing needs, including at risk groups, in private rental accommodation supported by HAP raises issues around the security and quality of such housing.
• Missing data: Ethnic minorities such as travellers, and the black ethnic group face higher discrimination in their search for accommodation and are at much higher risk of overcrowding and homelessness.  However, on most indicators of housing adequacy there is no measure of ethnicity, or refugees and asylum seeker status.

Details are in the full report titled ‘Monitoring Adequate Housing in Ireland’ (IHREC, ESRI, 2021).

Distance to nearest public transport stop by service frequency

The relationship between the frequency of services of each public transport stop (Luas, Train and Bus) and the population are explored in Table 4.7 and Figure 4.1.

The nearest public transport stop had a minimum of 50 services on a normal weekday for 1.4 million people, (30% of the population), and 925,930 of these people were within 500 metres.

In contrast, the nearest public transport stop for 938,421 people (20% of the population) had less than five services a day, and just over half of these (471,740) lived a distance of at least 2kms away.

In 2016 there were 593,411 people aged 66 years or over, therefore meeting the age eligibility criteria for the Free Travel Scheme, and Table 4.8 shows that 230,302 (39%) lived within 500 metres of their nearest public transport stop.  There were 153,398 people who were serviced by at least 25 daily departures at their closest stop, representing approximately one-quarter of all persons aged 66 years or over.

However, there were 211,576 people who qualified for the Free Travel Scheme on age grounds in 2016 where the closest public transport stop had less than ten daily departures, of which 104,642 lived a distance of 2kms or more.

Dublin City (0.6%) had the lowest percentage of the population living closest to a transport option with less than ten departures each day.  In contrast, at least three-quarters of the population in three counties lived in closest proximity to a low frequency public transport service - Leitrim (95%), Longford (80%), and Wexford (75%).

Dublin City was the area best served with high frequency public transport, with the closest stop having over 50 departures a day for 84% of the population.  Cork City (64%), South Dublin (64%) and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown (57%) were the next highest in this category.  See Table 4.9.

Map 4.1 shows the county breakdown of the population where the nearest public transport stop had low frequency daily services (i.e. less than ten daily departures) during the working week. 

There were 489,656 people living in households with no car or van ownership and almost half of these (234,418) lived less than 500 metres from a public transport stop offering a minimum of 25 services on a normal weekday.

In contrast, there were 44,841 persons (9%) in households with no car or van ownership that were more than 2kms from public transport options, of which 14,741 had less than five daily services at their nearest stop.  See Table 4.10.

Train commuters living on average 2.3kms from their nearest station

There were 63,133 people who commuted to work by rail (Train, Luas or DART) in 2016, and Table 4.9 shows that the national average distance for these commuters to the closest station was 2.3kms.

The average distance to a station for the 17,160 rail commuters living in Dublin City was 800 metres.  For the 15,794 rail commuters living in counties outside Dublin, the average distance was 5.2kms, with 57% (9,064) living 2kms or more from the nearest rail stop.

A total of 26,224 people who travelled by rail to work in 2016 lived less than 1km to their nearest rail station, representing 42% of all rail commuters.  This percentage increased to 72% (or 12,326 persons) for rail commuters residing in Dublin City.  See Table 4.11 and Figure 4.2.

One in twelve people within 2kms of Luas station

Over 400,000 people lived within 2kms of a Luas station, with the Red Line accounting for 187,926 of these, while the Green Line was within 2kms proximity for 146,519 people.

The opening of the Luas Cross City Line in 2017 brought an extra 74,263 residents within 2kms of the tram network, and 22,423 were less than 500 metres to their nearest stop.  See Table 4.12 and Figure 4.3.

Regional and Local Level

The CSO publication ‘Measuring Distances to Everyday Services in Ireland 2019', provides insights on the differences in service accessibility at regional and local level.  An Interactive Dashboard has been developed for each county to facilitate the visualisation of data from this publication.  Dashboards are used to display multiple visualisations that work together on a single screen, and can give a comprehensive view of the data relating to a single geographical area.

To change county please use the drop-down list at the top-right hand corner of the dashboard.  Note that the dashboard is best viewed on a PC, laptop or tablet.