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.

The latest report from Census 2002 shows Navan's population rose from 12,810 in 1996 to 19,417 in 2002 an increase of 51.6%

Other large towns that experienced rapid growth include Ennis, Co Clare, where the population rose from 17,726 in 1996 to 22,051 in 2002 a 24.4% increase.

Drogheda also experienced a population surge from 25,282 to 31,020 a 22.7% rise.

Navan Chamber of Commerce president Frank Dempsey said the town, which only this week suffered the loss of 230 jobs with the closure of Navan Carpets, was managing to cope with the rapid population growth, but it was not without its challenges.

A huge amount of money had been spent by the local authorities over the past six years on providing infrastructure to cope with the predicted population growth in the town and surrounding area of up to 50,000 by 2010.

"The town is still experiencing growing pains. Huge tracts of land had been zoned for the development of approximately 2,500 houses and more sites are being planned," he said

Mr Dempsey said attention needed to be focussed now on the development of community facilities and small shops on the town's periphery.

He also said the rapid growth underlined the growing need for the development of a rail link between Navan and Dublin.

Ennis Chamber of Commerce president Rita McInerney said while the town's population rise was welcome there was a fear local businesses would be hit with a rates increase to support it.

"Ennis is a prime example where the population is increasing but the revenue going to the local authority to support it is decreasing."

Transport was a problem, she said. There was no local bus service and existing train service were inadequate. Some 4,500 cars left the town every weekday 1,500 headed for Limerick and 3,000 for Shannon.

Major towns within a 20-mile radius of Dublin showing significant population increases since 1996 were Celbridge +30.3%; Naas +29.9%; Swords +21.8%; Leixlip +11.6% and Bray +10.8%.

Dublin city has the highest population density with 4,215 persons per square km, followed by Cork city with 3,107 and Limerick city with 2,655.