Burnaby Only ‘Very Affluent’ Area In Wicklow

On golden puddle…

n a fascinating new study on County Wicklow deprivation and affluence, only one area managed to qualify as ‘very affluent’.

I hope you’re sitting down for this…

Turns out, it’s the Burnaby, right here in little ol’, working class Greystones.

Based on the 2016 census, and compiled by non-profit company Pobal – tagline: Government Supporting Communities – the overall rating for the entire county is ‘marginally above average’. A rating that has been there since 2006.

Measuring the relative affluence and disadvantage of a particular area, the data is arranged in categories including age dependency, single parent ratio, education from primary to third level, unemployment and proportion living in local authority rented housing.

Despite the fact that the vast majority of the county is above average, it’s the larger urban areas along the east coast that offer up some contradictions.

The only noted area of affluence south of Enniskerry, for example, is Burgage, just outside Blessington, whilst Arklow has no affluent area whatsoever.

In Bray, north of the Dargle from Castle Street east is ‘marginally below average’ (although, on the positive side, its score rating has increased over the last five years), whilst in Kilcoole, there was a disadvantaged area to the west of main street, including Bullford. The rest of the town was just about rollin’ in dough though.

In Kilmacanogue, by contrast, the population was found to be generally above average (including those hiding away up in the hills), Newtownmountkennedy up to Kilmurray was ‘affluent’, Newcastle was mainly affluent or above average, and Delgany had no disadvantaged area, with every inch of the village ‘affluent’ or marginally above average.

For Greystones, beyond the Burnaby’s gold-plated status, the town was found to be either affluent or marginally above average. Still, parts of Kindlestown Park – despite being the coolest part of the town – were found to be ‘very disadvantaged’.

Hmm, perhaps GG should try and organise a mass house swap for Christmas? Let squatters rights sort out the rest…

You can view the Pobal 2016 Annual Report in full here.