Navan is the fastest growing town in Ireland, statistics show

NAVAN is the fastest growing town in the State with its population increasing more than half in the last six years, figures released yesterday by the Central Statistics Office show.

The Co Meath town's population increase compares with the 8% overall rise in the State's population over the same period.

Galway city and its suburbs, with a population of 66,163, continues to be the city with the highest population growth at over 15% and Dublin city and its suburbs exceeded one million for the first time with a population of 1,004,614, up 51,922 (5.1%) from the 1996 census.