A map and index published today reveals the most ‘affluent’ and ‘disadvantaged’ areas of Donegal.
According to the 2022 Pobal HP Deprivation Index, the county is marginally below the national average level of affluence.
Described as Ireland’s primary social gradient tool, it found a nationwide improvement in measures such as employment and population growth, with levels largely returning to those observed in 2006. However, ‘persistent disadvantage’ remains for many communities.
According to the index’s map, there are only a handful of areas in Donegal described as ‘affluent’. They include the Ards area of Dunfanaghy, a part of Donegal town, Coolmore, near Ballyshannon as well as a small number of other areas round Letterkenny, including Castlewray. In Inishowen, Greencastle is the only area described as ‘affluent.’
The most disadvantaged areas of Donegal are mainly in the west of the county, parts of Inishowen and along the border in the east. Clonleigh North (around Ballindrait) and Killygordon are two areas described as ‘extremely disadvantaged’ while Tory and Arranmore islands are among the locations to be ‘very disadvantaged’.
The Deprivation Index for Letterkenny shows the affluent areas in blue and the advantaged and very disadvantaged areas in brown/orange.
The Pobal HP Deprivation Index uses data from Census 2022, analysing ten measures of an area’s levels of disadvantage. These include educational attainment, employment status and the numbers living in individual households. Almost 19,000 small areas, including 720 in Donegal, (50-200 households) were indexed leading to the development of a detailed map of the relative affluence and disadvantage.
The 2022 Pobal HP Deprivation Index is available on Pobal Maps (http://maps.pobal.ie), a free online Geographical Information System map viewer. It outlines the deprivation score for various geographic units such as county, constituency, electoral division or small area. Percentage data for the area is provided under a range of categories such as unemployment, educational attainment and population change. The data can also be extracted for further analysis through the geoprofiling viewer and compared between the 2022 Index Census and the three previous editions.
Anna Shakespeare, CEO of Pobal, said the index is created to inform national policy and ensure that resources can be properly directed to where they are most needed.
“There has been an overall improvement for the majority of communities in Ireland, however, we must also recognise that this is not being experienced equally,” she said.
“At Pobal, we are committed to working on behalf of government to support communities to combat disadvantage. This tool helps to create an understanding of the challenge of disadvantage and where it is prevalent, which is an important step towards achieving social inclusion for all.”
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