Today marks an important milestone in the development of a new suite of all-island demographic tools and datasets to support evidence-informed planning in Ireland. As of 3pm today, the All-Island Research Observatory (AIRO) at the NUI Maynooth will launch some initial themes from its new on-line digital atlas. The data sitting behind the on-line atlas has been kindly made available through collaboration with the census unit at the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and the Northern Ireland Research and Statistics Agency (NISRA).

You can view the initial releases of the mapping system here

For now we have included datasets on Population, Religion, Place of Birth, Ethnic Group, Housing Type and General Health. All data is mapped at the Small Area level and as such means that information is now available for 23,025 local units across the island. Please note that this launch is a test run and datasets and mapped outputs may be adjusted following user feedback during the next month.

Over the coming months AIRO will, along with colleagues at the International Centre for Local and Regional Development (ICLRD) and the Centre for Cross Border Studies (CCBS), continue to publish additional themes to the on-line mapping system (unemployment, industry, housing vacancy, education, transport etc) and will also produce an accompanying hard back atlas looking at a variety of socio-demographic trends across the Island. In a follow on to the beta All-Island Deprivation Index the project will also publish the 2011 All-Island Deprivation Index and also host a series of workshops and ‘data-days’ in the cross border area.

Project Background

The project is part-financed by the European Union’s INTERREG IVA programme managed by the Special EU Programmes Body.

This project is being developed under the Evidence-Based Planning theme of the Ireland Northern Ireland Cross-border Cooperation Observatory (INICCO-2) CrosSPlaN-2 funded research programme which responds to the need for sustained support to territorial cooperation in the Irish border region.

The Evidence-Based Planning theme will provide compatible 2011 census data from RoI and NI and an updated deprivation index in an on-line user-friendly format to support collaboration among central government departments in both administrations within the border region and across the island. Practitioners, officials and elected members involved in cross-border programmes will be trained in the use, interpretation and application of data in the implementation and evaluation of cross-border programmes. This will occur through four ‘data day’ events and presentations over the coming year. Selected 2011 census information will be published in book form with analysis and commentary by sector experts, and this will provide policy makers and practitioners with an understanding of trends and their implications across a broad section of themes (e.g. economy, demography, housing, transport, education) to support the coordination of strategic planning, infrastructure and services across the border and inform future EU programming.

Data Licences: Ordnance Survey Ireland Licence No. EN 0063509 © Ordnance Survey Ireland/Government of Ireland Ordnance Survey Northern Ireland Licence No. 70189 © Crown Copyright  Data sources: CSO (RoI), NISRA (NI) Not to be reproduced without permission from AIRO.

Technology Partners: This mapping system has been developed using ESRI ArcGIS Viewer for Flex. For more details contact ESRI Ireland

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