Ennis Chamber Launches Socio-Economic Profile Of County Town
More than half of those working in Ennis don’t live in the town while almost two fifths of Ennis residents work elsewhere.
These findings – and more – are contained in a new socio-economic report of the county town launched by Ennis Chamber today.
‘Ennis – A Socio-Economic Profile’ has been produced by People & Place Consultants in partnership with Ennis Chamber based on data from the Central Statistics Office’s Census 2022 analysis.
The report shows that Ennis is the largest town in the West of Ireland with a population of 27,923 and a population catchment within a one-hour drive of over 575,000 which is greater than that of either Limerick City or Galway City.
The average age in the town is 38.9 years and those aged 24 or under make up 31.6% of the town’s population which is below the State average of 32.2%.
At 18,228, Ennis has the fifth-highest number of working age persons in the country relative to other large towns.
Just 14.6% of Ennis’s population is aged 65 or over which is shy of the national average of 15.1%.
With 13,727 Ennis residents aged 15 or above in the labour force, the town has a labour force participation rate of 61.6% which is in line with the rest of the country.
Of these, 12,204 are in employment which equates to 90.4% of the labour force.
42% of those at work who are living in Ennis work in the town while 19.5% work elsewhere in Clare, 18.3% work outside the county and the remainder work remotely.
Of those who work in jobs within Ennis meanwhile, just 49% live in the town – with 41% commuting from elsewhere in Clare and 10% commuting from beyond the county bounds.
Turning to education, Ennis has the highest number of people with a third level degree of any West of Ireland town, with nine out of 10 Leaving Certificate Students progressing to third-level.
Speaking ahead of the report’s launch at Dromoland, Tánaiste Micheál Martin has been telling Clare FM’s Seán Lyons increased housing supply will tackle scarcity of housing and affordability of rent for Ennis’s working population.
