There has been a slight dip in the proportion of people staying within 10km of home amid ongoing restrictions on travel, new figures suggest.
Figures from the Central Statistics Office show 64.2 per cent of people stayed local (within 10km of home) during the week ending March 26th. This is down from 65.1 per cent of people who did so the previous week. The lowest mobility during the pandemic’s third wave was observed in the week leading to February 7th, when 68.7 per cent of people stayed local.
A 5km limit on non-essential travel remains in place until April 12th in an attempt to curb the spread of Covid-19. From Monday, this will be extended to a county-wide limit while travel 20km from home, including across a county boundary will also be permitted.
Monaghan was the only county where no change was noted in the number of people remaining local. All other counties reflected a trend towards fewer people staying within 10km, with the downward trajectory ranging from -0.2 in Mayo to -1.6 in Meath.
A reflection on its urbanised nature and plentiful services compared with more rural counties, Dublin continues to be the county with the highest percentage of its population staying within the measured range. While 79.2 per cent of Dublin residents remained within 10km, just 49.5 per cent of Roscommon inhabitants did the same.
The county with the second-lowest rate of people staying local was Mayo (49.7 per cent).
This is the ninth of an insight series on mobility produced by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The indicator is measured by anonymised, aggregated data from phones on the Three network.
