Assess planning & policy

Know who lives around a site before you design for it

DemographicsNew

Every site check now reads Census 2022 for the 18,919 Small Areas that cover the State — population, age, tenure, vacancy, when the housing was built, how people travel to work — and colours any one of them across the map.

Find zoned, serviced land with no application on it

Census 2022 Small Areas: 18,919; Census 2022 Small Areas
measures you can map: 15; measures you can map
Electoral Divisions scored for deprivation: 3,417; Electoral Divisions scored for deprivation

What it tells you

The neighbourhood on the site card

Drop a pin and every measure is listed for the Small Area around it, each beside the colour the map would paint it — so a number in the card and a colour on the map are the same fact.

Any measure, across the map

Pick one of 15 measures and the whole country recolours: population density, over-65s, children, vacant dwellings, holiday homes, private and social renting, owner-occupation, housing built since 2011 or before 1919, unemployment, education, car ownership, working from home, and residents born outside Ireland.

When the housing around it was built

Period built is the one planners and developers reach for and nobody publishes on a map: the share of homes from before 1919 through to 2016 and later, which dates the stock a new scheme would sit beside.

Vacancy, on the CSO’s own basis

The share of permanent dwellings recorded vacant on Census night, excluding holiday homes — the same basis the CSO uses for its own vacancy figure, with holiday homes available as a separate measure.

Deprivation, from Pobal

The Pobal HP Deprivation Index 2022 — Haase and Pratschke’s weighted score built from ten Census measures — for the Electoral Division a site sits in, from extremely disadvantaged to affluent.

Why it matters

Design for the people who are there

Age profile, household tenure and car ownership are the difference between family homes, downsizer units, student accommodation and retirement living. They are also what a planning authority expects a housing-need argument to reference.

Evidence for the planning statement

Census figures are the evidence base a local authority already uses. Quoting the same source for the same Small Area is a shorter argument than asserting demand.

Vacant stock beside zoned land

Vacancy is a live Irish policy question. Read it against the Residentially Zoned Land Tax layer and you can see where zoned, serviced land sits next to housing already standing empty.

Demographics: questions

Where can I find Irish census data for a specific site?

The Central Statistics Office publishes Census 2022 Small Area Population Statistics, and Tailte Éireann publishes the matching boundaries. Precedent joins the two, so dropping a pin on a site returns the figures for the Small Area around it — about 130 households — instead of a county average.

What is a CSO Small Area?

A Small Area is the smallest geography the CSO publishes census statistics for: 18,919 of them cover the State, averaging about 130 households, and they nest inside electoral divisions. It is neighbourhood scale rather than site scale.

How many homes are vacant in an area?

Census 2022 recorded the occupancy of every permanent dwelling. Precedent shows the share recorded vacant for the Small Area around a site, excluding unoccupied holiday homes — the basis the CSO uses for its own vacancy figure — and holiday homes separately.

Does Precedent show household income?

No. The Central Statistics Office does not publish income at Small Area level, so nobody can show it honestly at this scale. Precedent shows the Pobal HP Deprivation Index for the Electoral Division instead, which measures disadvantage rather than earnings, and says so wherever it appears.

When was the housing in an area built?

Census 2022 records the period each household's dwelling was built, from before 1919 through to 2016 and later. Precedent shows the share in each period for the Small Area around a site, which dates the existing stock a new scheme would sit beside.

Built on official public registries

Central Statistics Office: CSO Census 2022 Small Area Population Statistics; boundaries Tailte Éireann (CC BY 4.0)
Pobal: Pobal HP Deprivation Index 2022 (Haase & Pratschke), CC BY 4.0

Figures are from Census 2022 and describe the neighbourhood around a site, not the site itself.

All in one platform

Every feature works on the same map, against the same 31 planning authorities.

See it on your own patch

A short call with the founder, on real sites in the county you work in. About twenty minutes — you will know by the end whether it is any use to you.