A chara, – The Central Statistics Office newsflash on Ireland’s population surpassing five million for the first time since the Famine is of course fake news as it references only 26 counties of Ireland.
What is even more depressing is that the CSO website shows Ireland’s population in 1841 standing at 6,528,799, which is 1,671,054 less than the correct figure of 8,199,853.
Drilling into the CSO figure for 1841 we find a breakdown for Leinster Munster, Connacht and... Ulster (part of).
This same methodology is used for each succeeding census, despite the fact that partition of our country did not occur until 1921. The CSO has now retrospectively extended partition back a further 80 years.
Users of such skewed statistics will be forgiven for thinking of the aphorism lies, lies and damned statistics. – Le meas,
EOGHAN MAC CORMAIC,
Cill Chríost,
Co na Gaillimhe.
Sir, – Was I alone in wondering what the population of the island as a whole was while reading several reports in yesterday’s issue?
I had to resort to research elsewhere; 1.8 million in the North making almost seven million in total for those interested. – Yours, etc,
CORMAC O DALAIGH,
Clontarf,
Dublin 3.
Sir, – Your columnist Una Mullally seems to be gifted with the ability to look into her heart to know what Irish people, young people, creatives, progressives and everyone she meets want, think and need.
On the day that she tells us we are on the brink of another era of emigration (Opinion, August 30th) the Central Statistics Office announced that in the year ending April of this year, Irish nationals accounted for 30,200 (46 per cent) of all immigrants to the State (the highest number of returning nationals since 2007, it should be noted) while 42 per cent of the 54,000 emigrants from Ireland were Irish nationals.
It spells out for us that 7,300 more Irish nationals returned to live in Ireland than emigrated. – Yours, etc,
PADDY McGOVERN,
DUBLIN 8.