1. Dublin 1.046 million in the city council area (excluding suburbs and further out)


2 Im assuming its Belfast which is 276,459 in city council area (excluding suburbs and further out) but Cork will run that close.

3 ?????


Any info on other cities please post:)

Ooooh bitch;)

I think restricting this to designated council areas distorts the debate. As we all know NI's multiple levels of government mean that we have a council for every neighbourhood. I'll bet a tenner that your average vistor to Belfast is unaware that Castlereagh, Newtownabbey and Dunmurry (at present) are under different councils.

Your city council population for Belfast is correct, but allow me to add:

Population of the Belfast Metropolitan Area: 645 536
(Ref: Belfast City Council).

Population of Regional Belfast Area: 727 391
(Includes places such as Bangor)

For Dublin, I think that depends whether you consider DLRCC, SDCC and FCC all "city councils". The actual Dublin City Council admin area is 505k(2006) or something. What ive always considered (and I think is generally considered) as the city though is the area inside the m50, which takes parts from all of em, and adds up to what you mentioned. That includes suburbs and smaller urban centers alike...As is the case when considering any citys population. City council areas are not really a great benchmark, Limerick is a perfect example of this, and I guess belfast like pb said. Belfast is a good bit larger than cork, round twice as big, similar in number to the daily commute on dublin bus ;)

Cities proper (within their own council area)

1: Dublin 505,739 (city), 1,186,000 (county)

2: Belfast 276,500

3: Cork 120,000

4: Londonderry 84,000

5: Galway 73,000

6: Lisburn 71,000

7: Limerick 53,000

8: Waterford: 46,000

I've not included anywhere after this as it becomes a bit ambiguous. There are lots of towns around the 20-30000 mark with not much between them.

I've not included Craigavon (54,000), as this is more of a conglomaration of existing centres rather than a New Town, it includes Portadown, Craigavon and others.

Also not included Dun Laoghaire, as that would be covered under Dublin county.

Good list, but where does that leave:

Castlereagh, pop 54 990
Newtownabbey, pop 62 056

Also Bangor has a population of 76 403, making it (surprisingly) bigger than Galway.

Does anyone know of a site where you can draw a 20 mile radius (for example) out from an urban centre and calculate the population within it? I think that might be more reflective.

4: Londonderry 84,000


*cough*

Where is this 'Londonderry' place?:lol::)

For god sake...do we have to get into the Derry/Londonderry debate, it's so bloody sectarian and childish.

Shall we just settle on calling the place Londonderry/Derry...I say Derry SIMPLY becuase its quicker and not for any pathetic political reason. Can people just not grow up and be more mature about such things.

For god sake...do we have to get into the Derry/Londonderry debate, it's so bloody sectarian and childish.

Shall we just settle on calling the place Londonderry/Derry...I say Derry SIMPLY becuase its quicker and not for any pathetic political reason. Can people just not grow up and be more mature about such things.


Only joking man...chill:)

same, jeez.... so uncool;)

Well given the recent history in these threads its hardly a stretch of the imagination to consider it.....

Where is this 'Londonderry' place?

It is in Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom.

Cities proper (within their own council area)

1: Dublin 505,739 (city), 1,186,000 (county)

2: Belfast 276,500

3: Cork 120,000

4: Londonderry 84,000

5: Galway 73,000

6: Lisburn 71,000

7: Limerick 53,000

8: Waterford: 46,000

I've not included anywhere after this as it becomes a bit ambiguous. There are lots of towns around the 20-30000 mark with not much between them.

I've not included Craigavon (54,000), as this is more of a conglomaration of existing centres rather than a New Town, it includes Portadown, Craigavon and others.

Also not included Dun Laoghaire, as that would be covered under Dublin county.

Not withstanding local authority area boundaries etc etc etc, having been there, I really cannot believe that Corks population is only 120,000.

ohh, this Irish city has the less population so far when compared to that of the other . I think they need to increase populaiton so that the future generation will be there. I can tell that this is possible to have the best they could do . Even the property is quite los as I think when compared to that of others.

Limerick's city boundaries are hopelessly oudated.

Most suburbs (such as Castletroy, by the university) are directly contiguous with the city and ensure that the true population is 91,000+ since the last census, probably around 94,000 now.

Galway is physically a lot smaller than Limerick and seems village-like in comparison, and Limerick's city centre is huge by Galway's standards.

True - Dublin's boundaries are bizarre aswell. The 'city council' area is 114 sq km's - yet the physical city is far bigger then that occupying South Dublin Co Co, Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown Co Co and Fingal Co Co. Your not alone in Limerick:)

When the concrete stops and fields begin - thats your urban boundary

Unfortunately most politicians dont see it like that prefering instead a mish mash of districts, in Dublin anyway. Less then a quarter of its physical urban area is in the 'city council' zone.

Other cities - Belfast and Cork, for example, are not big enough for the Dublin system but they do have a preferable definition of a 'city council' area. Having said that the logic is it is easier to manage. I would not want 'Dublin city council' looking after my suburan estate if im honest!

Limerick's city boundaries are hopelessly oudated.

Most suburbs (such as Castletroy, by the university) are directly contiguous with the city and ensure that the true population is 91,000+ since the last census, probably around 94,000 now.

Galway is physically a lot smaller than Limerick and seems village-like in comparison, and Limerick's city centre is huge by Galway's standards.

galways city centre has much more old school feel to it and galway has only really started to sprawl in the last 20 years or so, many housing estates in places like Knocknacarra (along way from city centre) have only been built in the last 5 years

even galway at 73,000 seems conservative to me, there is 160,000 people living in county galway outside of the city according to CSO, where?? tuam/ballinasloe/loughrea would account for 20,000 max.

362,000 living in county cork not counting the city is even more baffling, what big towns are there in cork to get a number that high, 3 times mayos population which has big towns like castlebar and ballina and many decent sized towns like ballyhaunis, claremorris, westport, ballinrobe, swinford etc

i think that the city bounders in cork are only 2 miles from the city center a 20 miles radius from the city center the population is around 380k 10 miles 290k

galways city centre has much more old school feel to it and galway has only really started to sprawl in the last 20 years or so, many housing estates in places like Knocknacarra (along way from city centre) have only been built in the last 5 years

even galway at 73,000 seems conservative to me, there is 160,000 people living in county galway outside of the city according to CSO, where?? tuam/ballinasloe/loughrea would account for 20,000 max.

362,000 living in county cork not counting the city is even more baffling, what big towns are there in cork to get a number that high, 3 times mayos population which has big towns like castlebar and ballina and many decent sized towns like ballyhaunis, claremorris, westport, ballinrobe, swinford etc

dont forget Doughiska, Roscam on the east side of galway by the race course. it was all farm land 10 years ago. oranmore is just a stones throw away from galway now because of the village growing aswell wont be too long before oranmore and galway are no longer seperated!! well if this recession goes away

Wahay, Ballinrobe got a mention.

It's tiny. I live there. 2-3000 max. And has decreased in the last hundred years even in spite of the boom.

I hate when populations come into discussion invilving city boundaries.

Limerick city boundary hasnt been changed in over 60 years, limiting the population to just 55,000 or so, there is no more room to develop.

two of Limericks biggest suburbs are;

castletroy: 32,000
Raheen/Dooradoyle: 30,000

neither are in the city boundary, yet are only about a mile/ mile and a half from the city centre.

metro population is about 95,000-100,000 depending on how far out you go.

when it comes to galway, eventhough technically its bigger as it has a bigger boundary, every galway friend regards limerick as the superior size, in terms of city centre, streets, buildings, population, its just an overall bigger city.


To respond to the discussion mentioned about where all the other people live in county galway, if you look at a map of ireland, galway is one of the biggest counties in the country, taking up a huge space, believe me, there are about 200,000 in galway..70,000 of which are in the city