Why So Few People Live On The West Coast Of Ireland

Just casually ignoring Limerick and Galway cities while also saying that Cork is on the east coast when that’s just blatantly wrong

Not true that Cork is in the East and you ignored Galway and Limerick the next 2 biggest cities by population both in the West, lazy

I went to Ireland recently, and it only rained twice; the first time for 4 days, and the second time for 3 days 😂

"The island of Ireland is home to about 7.2 million people." So still almost 1 million less than in 1840

Limerick has left the chat, and Galway’s already in the car.

I’ve told my son and his wife in Galway that the people he sees every day are an illusion as where he lives is ‘pretty empty’

As someone born and raised in the West of Ireland, it’s largely down to a combination of poorer agricultural land and relative isolation from Ireland’s main trading partners in the EU and UK. This leads to a more scattered population and less prospect of attracting FDI, although American multinationals have stepped in the breach somewhat. The relative lack of people does make for some stunning scenery and generally lower rates of crime, however. As a friend of mine says, don’t tell anyone about how nice it is or they’ll all want to come!

So what defines a 'major' city, given the size and distribution of the population? Limerick and Galway have populations that are not that much less than that of Cork. And are similar to many cities in the UK. The West of Ireland has always been less developed and relied more on agriculture and tourism while Belfast and Dublin always had most of the industry, commerce, and the seats of power. Still, property is still expensive.

Totally missed the huge influence of the Famine. The west of Ireland was a lot more densely populalted prior to the famine. The famine and the emmigration that followed for over a hundred years, is a major factor in why the west is less populated. For example the population of the Western province of Connacht in 1841, before the famine, was 1.4 million by by 1971 it was 390K. Munster 1841 2.3 million by 1971 879K. A little research wouldn't kill you. The population decline in Ireland is an emotive subject. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_population_of_Ireland

All the population on the east coast tilts the island to have nice beaches there and high cliffs on the opposite side of the island.

Geoff this population shift is only true post famine. The population of county Mayo in the west in 1841 was almost 400,000, yet now is 130,000. Inhabited by farmers on very small holdings yet In the east it was often bigger landed estates run by the English. The west and south West never recovered population wise. Cork is also is in the south and south West of the country

Like most other countries, NI is Belfast-centric and ROI is Dublin-centric. Governments choose to invest in each of those heavily. Private investment goes there which nobody can control. I think money needs to be more evenly distributed relative to size, problem is Belfast needs massively developed and regenerated in parts with investment, whereas in Dublin the problems are more housing and crime. These cities are much larger than the others. Despite the two being 170km apart, no high speed rail which would be the norm in Europe. All of Ireland deserves a connected railway system also. Infrastructure and transport is a problem on both sides

Ireland certainly has a mild climate. We recently visited Wexford and Waterford in Ireland's 'Sunny South-East', and were amazed to see so many palm trees.

I've been all over Ireland as my husband is from Ireland. The consistency of the soil in the west is much rockier than the soil in the East. That's a big factor as to why so many in the west left. Farming was simply more of an uphill battle. If you travel from Dublin to Galway by car you'll gradually notice more and more stone fences. I spent some time on one of the Aran Islands off the west coast and the entire island was broken down by stone "fences".

13:29 not only are Ireland a beautiful island, but the people there are beautiful people also, my company had a project there in the 90'ts and we all simply loved working there, 2 of my colleagues found their wife there and many travelled around the island and they all loved everything, also being in pubs in the evening was so nice, people was easy to talk to and so polite, positive and created a pleasant atmosphere many of us considered it our favourite place to have a project

I recently moved to the west coast of Ireland. One of the advantages of it being less populated than the east is that property prices are much more reasonable. 😁

Another factor is the rainfall, which on the west coast is twice that of the east, and that rain comes in from the west horizontally most of the time due to the high winds.

Wonderful video. I won't bore you with historical stuff. The West of Ireland is jaw dropping beautiful. Again, fantastic video.

Striking scenery. Great, informative video.

"Major" is a relative term....In terms of "major cities" on a global scale, with the exception of Belfast and Dublin, many population centres in Ireland are little more than small towns. BTW I live in Ireland. In the England classifications are as follows Major is 200k - England 28, ROI 2, NI 1 Large is 75k to 199,999 - England 85, Ireland 2 largest of which is 102k, NI is 1 Medium is 20k to 74999 - UK 348 ROI Ireland 21 and NI 11 You can see the trend - Several county towns in Ireland would be classed as Large Village/Small town.